Zamalka ( ar, زملكا) is a town of
Damascus in
Syria, located
east-northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
of
Old Damascus
The Ancient City of Damascus ( ar, دِمَشْق ٱلْقَدِيمَة, Dimašq al-Qadīmah) is the historic city centre of Damascus, Syria. The old city which is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inha ...
. It is administratively a part of the
Markaz Rif Dimashq District
Markaz Rif Dimashq District ( ar-at, منطقة مركز ريف دمشق, manṭiqat Markaz Rif Dimašq) or Damascus Central Countryside District is a district of the Rif Dimashq Governorate
Rif Dimashq Governorate ( ar, محافظة ريف د ...
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 ...
. Nearby localities include
Jobar
Jobar ( ar, جَوْبَر, Jawbar) also spelled Jawbar, Jober or Joubar, is a municipality of the Syrian capital Damascus. A once historical village on the outskirts of Damascus, it is now a suburb of the capital city. It lies 2 km northeas ...
and
Qaboun
Qaboun ( ar, ٱلْقَابُون, al-Qābūn, sometimes spelled Al-Kaboun or al-Qaboun) is a municipality and neighbourhood in Damascus, Syria, located north-east of the city center, to the north of Jobar district.
History
Qaboun name is deri ...
to west and northwest,
Harasta
Harasta ( ar, حرستا, Ḥarastā, syr, ܚܪܣܬܐ, Ḥarastā), also known as ''Harasta al-Basal'' or ''Hirista'', is a city and northeastern suburb of Damascus, Rif Dimashq, Syria. Harasta has an altitude of 702 meters. It has a population ...
and
Arbin to north and northeast,
Hamouriyah
Hamouriyah ( ar, حمورية), also spelled Hamoryah, Hamouria, Hammurah or Hammuriya, is a city in Syria. It is administratively a part of the Kafr Batna nahiyah, in the Markaz district of the Rif Dimashq Governorate. The town is located abou ...
and
Saqba to east,
Kafr Batna
Kafr Batna ( ar, كفر بطنا, also spelled Kfar Batna and Kafar Batna) is a town in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in southern Syria and a suburb of Damascus.Burns, 2005, pp1415Siddique, HaroonSyrian troops battle to retake Damascus suburbs ''T ...
to southeast,
Ein Tarma to the south and
Al-Maamouniye to southwest. The
Aleppo-Damascus Highway is the districts boundary in the west, separating Zamalka from the
Jobar municipality of Damascus.
According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Zamalka had a population of 44,661 in the 2004 census.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate.
History
Zamalka was visited by Syrian geographer
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known for ...
in the early 13th-century, during
Ayyubid rule. He noted that it was "a village of the
Ghautah of Damascus. The Syrians often pronounce the name Zamluka."
Zamalka was under rebel control for much of the
Syrian Civil War. It was one of the areas hit by a
sarin attack on 21 August 2013 (the
Ghouta chemical attack
The Ghouta chemical attack, was a chemical attack carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in Ghouta, Syria during the Syrian civil war. Two opposition-controlled areas in the su ...
) during the
Rif Dimashq offensive (March–August 2013). Rebels surrendered to government forces on 23 March 2018, during the
Rif Dimashq offensive (February–April 2018)
The Rif Dimashq offensive (February–April 2018), code-named Operation Damascus Steel, was a military offensive launched by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in February 2018 in a bid to capture the rebel-held eastern Ghouta suburb during the Syrian ...
.
[ “https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/syria-evacuation-deal-reached-eastern-ghouta-180323172422418.html Syria: Second Evacuation Deal Reached in Eastern Ghouta]” Al Jazeera, March 23, 2018.]
References
Bibliography
*
{{Rif Dimashq Governorate, markaz
Populated places in Markaz Rif Dimashq District
Suburbs of Damascus