Kabani or Kabanah () is a

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 ...

n town in the

Al-Haffah District Al-Haffah District () is a district of the Latakia Governorate in northwestern Syria. Administrative centre is the city of al-Haffah. At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 81,213. Al-Haffah District is located in the area of An-Nu ...

Latakia Governorate Latakia Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat al-Lādhiqīyah''), also transliterated as Ladhakia, is one of the 14 Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay Province to the no ...

. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Kabani had a population of 902 in the 2004 census.

During the Syrian Civil War

In early 2015, Kabani was under the control of the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

1st Coastal Division The 1st Coastal Division, formerly known as the Brigade of the Chargers (), is a Syrian rebel group that is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and has been vetted by the Friends of Syria Group. It received TOW missiles and operates in the Idlib ...

. It witnessed over a dozen consecutive military attacks ( 2015–16 Latakia offensive and 2016 Latakia offensive) to control it by the

Syrian Arab Army The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria. The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air D ...

, since it is one of the highest points in

Jabal al-Akrad Jabal al-Akrad ( ''Jabal al-Akrād'', ''Mountain of the Kurds'') is a rural mountainous region with an elevation that ranges from above sea level, in northwestern Syria at the northern end of the Coastal Mountain Range or Jabal Ansariya. It is ...

, that overlooks the Al-Ghab Plains, and from where the rebels still had the ability to shell government strongholds like

Qardaha Qardaha ( / ALA-LC: ''Qardāḥah'') is a town in northwestern Syria, in the mountains overlooking the coastal town of Latakia. Nearby localities include Kilmakho to the west, Bustan al-Basha to the southwest, Harf al-Musaytirah to the south ...

. Despite numerous attempts by the Syrian army to take the city, the rebels succeeded in countering every Syrian army attack, until the latest offensive from 31 May 2020. In January 2015, at the very latest Kabani became a

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

stronghold after the fall of Salma to the Syrian Army. From 2017 on, the town was under the control of the Salafi jihadist groups

Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was a Sunni Islamist political organisation and paramilitary group involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham facti ...

and the

Turkistan Islamic Party The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is an Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Pakistan by Hasan Mahsum. Its stated goals are to establish an Islamic state in Xinjiang and Central Asia. The Chinese government asserts that the T ...

. On May 19, 2019, these groups alleged that the Syrian government had released chlorine gas on their fighting forces in the town. According to them, four militants were wounded and taken to a hospital in the nearby rebel stronghold of

Jisr al-Shughur Jisr ash-Shughūr (, , also rendered as ''Jisser ash-Shughour'' and other spellings), known in antiquity as Seleucobelus (), is a city in the Idlib Governorate in northwestern Syria. Situated at an altitude of above sea level on the Orontes rive ...

, where they were treated. In February 2021, the rebels were subjected to air strikes that were not reported in western media.Air Force launches massive attack on jihadist headquarters in northeast Latakia: video
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References

Populated places in al-Haffah District Towns in Syria {{LatakiaSY-geo-stub