Al-Sukhnah (, also spelled ''al-Sukhanah'' or ''al-Sakhnah'' or ''al-Sakhanah'', Roman "Sikne") is a town in eastern
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
under the administration of the
Homs Governorate
Homs Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ'') is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. Its geography differs in various locations in the governorate, from to . ...
, located east of
Homs
Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...
in the
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...
. Nearby localities include
Mayadin
Mayadin (/ALA-LC: ''al-Miyādīn'') is a town in eastern Syria. It is the capital of the Mayadin District, part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. Mayadin is about 44 kilometers southeast of Deir ez-Zor. The Euphrates River flows through the town ...
and
al-Asharah
Al-Asharah (, also spelled al-Ashareh or Esharah) is a town in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, located along the Euphrates River, south of Deir ez-Zor. Nearby localities include al-Quriyah to the northeast, Makh ...
to the east,
al-Taybah and
Raqqa
Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...
to the north,
Salamiyah
file:Hama qalat shmemis salamiyyah syria 1995.jpg, A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995)
Salamiyah (; also transliterated ''Salamiyya'', ''Salamieh'' or ''Salamya'') is a city in central Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate. It is ...
to the west,
Arak and
Tadmur (
Palmyra
Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...
) to the southwest.
According to
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Sukhnah had a population of 16,173 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Sukhnah ''
nahiyah
A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...
'' ("subdistrict") which consists of six localities with a collective population of 21,880 in the 2004 census.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. The town's inhabitants are predominantly
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...
s. Al-Sukhnah has attracted hundreds of residents from nearby villages in the 20th century
and is currently a processing center for natural gas.
Etymology
Al-Sukhnah means "the Warm" in
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, and is so named because of the nearby
sulphur
Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...
springs.
As late as the early 20th century, the inhabitants of the village would bathe in the hot springs.
History
Early Islamic period
In 634, following the capture of
Arak by the
Rashidun army
The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, grantin ...
of
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arabs, Arab military commander. He initially led campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career ...
, al-Sukhnah peacefully received the
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
force upon hearing the generous surrender terms negotiated for Arak.
In 1225, al-Sukhnah was described by
Arab
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
geographer
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...
as "a small town in the
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...
, lying between Tadmur and 'Urd and Arak. Beside its spring are palm trees. It is on the road of one going to
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
from Raqqa, and you come to it before reaching Arak." In the mid-14th century,
Ibn Batuta
Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebis, Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his ...
wrote that al-Sukhnah was "a pretty town", with a mostly
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
population. He noted that the al-Sukhnah received its name from the heat of its water, and that there were bathhouses in the town.
Ottoman period
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, al-Sukhnah served as an important trade center in the Syrian Desert among the inhabitants of nearby villages and various
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
tribes.
In particular, the ''Sawakhina'' ("people from al-Sukhnah"), were integral in the commerce with the
'Anizzah
Anizah or Anazah (, Najdi pronunciation: ) is an Arabian tribe in the Arabian Peninsula, Upper Mesopotamia, and the Levant.
Genealogy and origins
Anizah's existence as an autonomous tribal group, like many prominent modern tribes, predates ...
tribal confederation. Unlike most Bedouin groups, the 'Anizzah did not maintain economic relations with the inland villages of Syria and their trade with al-Sukhnah was unique. The 'Anizzah would trade
camel
A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...
s, horses,
alkali
In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...
ashes and leather while merchants from al-Sukhnah marketed wheat, clothing, arms and utensils. By the mid-19th-century, however, its role decreased with the rise of
Deir ez-Zor
Deir ez-Zor () is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 ...
, and many of its inhabitants migrated to that city and to
Aleppo
Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
,
Homs
Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...
and
Hama
Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...
.
In the early 20th-century, al-Sukhnah had about 100 houses and a large, fortified outpost manned by an Ottoman garrison.
Its inhabitants were impoverished and were engaged in the subsistence farming of grain.
Post-independence Syria
Until the present day, al-Sukhnah continues to function as a trading center between its residents and the tribes in its vicinity, such as the 'Umur and the
Sba'a,
two sub-branches of the 'Anizzah. In the 1960 Syrian census, al-Sukhnah had a population of 2,648.
Syrian civil war
The town was taken by
rebels early in the
Syrian civil war. On 25 July 2013, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...
reported that the government-loyal
Syrian Arab Army secured the town, after expelling the
al-Nusra Front
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...
.
After a number of unsuccessful attempts, the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria captured the town on 13 May 2015, as part of their wider
offensive to control
Tadmur (
Palmyra
Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...
) and the Syrian Desert, a strategic area that is key to ISIS supply lines and an area with numerous oil wells. During the battle for al-Sukhnah, the
Syrian Army incurred 70 fatalities, while ISIS lost 40 of its militants. About 1,800 families fled the town for safety in Tadmur. Following their capture of al-Sukhnah, ISIS militants executed 26 civilians, beheading ten of them.
Since the final
Palmyra offensive in February 2017, a battle which resulted in a major Syrian government victory, government forces made advances along the Palmyra-Al Sukhnah Road. By 27 July 2017, the government forces had reached and captured strategic hills less than two kilometres from the town. On 6 August 2017, government forces recaptured the town in the
Central Syria offensive; this left the road open to the besieged city of
Deir ez-Zor
Deir ez-Zor () is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 ...
.
Economy
The residents of Sukhnah were linked to the different tribes in the region through various hierarchical economic ties. They paid the levy on their grain harvest to the Sba'a, who in return protected their trade. They also consigned their sheep flocks to the 'Umur and the Hadidiyin. To all these tribes, al-Sukhnah's residents supplied grain, cloth, clothing, and various household items and foodstuffs, while purchasing from them pastoral products for resale to Syria's large cities.
[Mundy and Musallam, 2000, pp. 126–129.] Today, al-Sukhnah has become a minor industrial center for
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
.
[Gibb, 1996, p. 231.]
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*.
*
*.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukhnah
Populated places in Tadmur District
Towns in Syria