Khan al-Shih ( ar, خان الشيح; also spelled ''Khan ash-Sheih'', ''Khan Eshieh'' or ''Khan al-Shieh'') is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the

Rif Dimashq Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف دمشق, ', literally, the "Governorate of the Countryside of Damascus", Damascus Suburb) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the ...

, located southwest of Damascus. It also contains a refugee camp by the same name. Nearby localities include Kafr Hawr to the west,

Kanaker Kanaker ( hy, Քանաքեռ; also Romanized as K’anak’err, Kenaker, Kanaker, and Qanaqer) was a town in Armenia to the north-east of the capital Yerevan. With the urban development, the village was gradually absorbed by the capital Yerevan t ...

to the south,

Qatana Qatana ( ar, قَطَنَا, Qaţanā) is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the Qatana District of Rif Dimashq Governorate. Qatana has an altitude of 879 meters. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had ...

and

Artouz Artouz ( ar, عَرْطُوْز, ʻArṭūz, �ar'tˤuːz Syriac: ܥܰܪܛܽܘܙ; Hebrew: עַרטוּז) is a town situated to the southwest of Damascus, Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population ...

to the north, and

Darayya Darayya ( ar, دَارَيَّا, Dārayyā) is a suburb of Damascus in Syria, the centre of Darayya lying south-west of the centre of Damascus. Administratively it belongs to Rif Dimashq. History and population Darayya is one of the oldest ...

to the northeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan al-Shih had a population of 12,148 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. Khan al-Shih is named after a caravanserai (''khan'') that existed in the town during the Ottoman era. ''Al-Shih'' was the Arabic name for a wooded plant that grew in the desert. In the mid-19th century, the ''khan'' was described as having "high walls and a low door" by traveler

Josias Leslie Porter Josias Leslie Porter DD LLD (1823–1889) was an Irish Presbyterian minister, missionary and traveller, who became an academic administrator. He was Moderator of the Irish General Assembly in 1875. Early life Born on 4 October 1823, he was you ...

. It served as a place of residence for a handful of families of local peasants and shepherds. The area surrounding Khan al-Shih, which was situated between a canal and the Awaj River (ancient

Pharpar Pharpar (or Pharphar in the Douay–Rheims Bible) is a biblical river in Syria. It is the less important of the two rivers of Damascus mentioned in the Book of Kings (2 Kings 5:12), now generally identified with the A‘waj (literally, 'crooked'), ...

), was agriculturally rich. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a camp for

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War (1967 Palestinian exodu ...

from the northern areas of Palestine was established in Khan al-Shih on an area consisting of 0.69 kilometers in 1949. The inhabitants worked mostly as civil servants, teachers, farmers on Syrian-owned agricultural lands and manual laborers at workshops in the vicinity. Prior to the Syrian Civil War, much of the camp's population were middle class. In October 2016 it was the scene of the Khan al-Shih offensive. On November 28, 2016, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and their allies officially handed over the town to the Syrian Army, along with their heavy weapons, in exchange for their transfer to Idlib Governorate.

References

Palestinian refugee camps in Syria Populated places in Qatana District Towns in Syria {{RifDimashqSY-geo-stub