Ma'an (, also spelled Maan) is a town in northern

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 ...

, administratively part of the

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib Governorate, Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the north, Raqqa Gove ...

, located north of

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 ...

. Nearby localities include

Suran The Survivable Radio Network (SURAN) project was sponsored by DARPA in the 1980s to develop a set of mobile ad hoc network (MANET) radio-routers, then known as "packet radios". It was a follow-on to DARPA's earlier PRNET project. The program began ...

to the southwest, Murik to the northwest,

al-Tamanah Al-Tamanah (, sometimes spelled ''al-Taman'ah'', ''al-Tamana’a'' or ''al-Teman’a'') is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively a part of the Maarrat al-Nu'man District of the Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥ� ...

to the north,

Atshan Atshan () is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Suran Subdistrict of the Hama District, located northeast of Hama city. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Atshan had a population of 1,809 in the 2004 ...

to the northeast, Tuleisa to the east, Fan al-Shamali to the southeast and Kawkab to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Ma'an had a population of 1,561 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Alawites Alawites () are an Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ...

.Jihadists take large part of Syria Alawite village: activists
'' The Daily Star''. Originally published by ''

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

''. 2012-12-24.

History

Ma'an was sold by the

Mawali ''Mawlā'' (, plural ''mawālī'' ), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the te ...

, a semi-

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 ...

tribe in central Syria, to the Kaylani notable family of

. The inhabitants of Ma'an, as of the early 1930s, were

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 ...

Arab tenant farmers. By a later point, the majority of the inhabitants were

Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...

s. The Kaylani family sold it to a citizen of

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, who later sold most of its lands to the local farmers before the 1958 Agrarian Reform Laws, which redistributed lands to the peasants across Syria. The palace of the original owner the village remains standing. Built of basaltic stone, it consists of two stories and contains warehouses, stables, kitchens and a courtyard. The village was connected to the electric grid in 1977. In 1990, a municipality was established to administer the village. As of 2010, pistachio orchards spanned about 80% of Ma'an's lands and pistachio, olive and grape cultivation and poultry farming represented the village's main economic activity. In late December 2012, during the Syrian civil war, Islamist rebel fighters from 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 ...

took over large parts of the town as part of a wider offensive in the

. During the battle, 11 rebels and 20

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

soldiers were killed. It was the site of the Maan massacre in 2014. On 13 October 2016 the town was recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Hama Governorate, hama Populated places in Hama District Alawite communities in Syria