Qastal Ma'af () is a town in northwestern

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

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 ...

, located in the mountains north of

Latakia Latakia (; ; Syrian Arabic, Syrian pronunciation: ) is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mar ...

. Nearby localities include

Kesab Kessab ( ; ), also spelled Kesab or Kasab, is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Latakia Governorate, located 59 kilometers north of Latakia. It is situated near the border with Turkey on the slope of Mount Aqraa, 800 me ...

to the north,

Mashqita Mashqita () is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Latakia Governorate, located north of Latakia. Nearby localities include Ayn al-Bayda, Al-Shamiyah and Burj Islam to the west, al-Bahluliyah to the east and Mushayrafet al- ...

and Ayn al-Bayda to the south and Rabia to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Qastal Ma'af had a population of 585 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the Qastal Ma'af ''

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 consisted of 19 localities with a collective population of 16,784 in 2004.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Latakia Governorate. The inhabitants of the town are predominantly Turkmen

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 ...

, and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages and subdistrict are predominantly

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.Smith, 1841, p. 180.

References

{{Latakia Governorate, latakia Populated places in Latakia District Towns in Syria Turkmen settlements in Latakia Governorate