Suran () is a city in central

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 ...

. In the 2004 census, Suran had a population of 29,100. Its inhabitants are predominant

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 ...

History

Suran was a small village at the onset of Ottoman rule (1517–1917), having a population of only 9 households in 1526. In 1838, it was recorded as a

village. During French Mandatory rule (1923–1946), the ''Bulletin du Comité de l'Asie française'' noted that the inhabitants of Suran and nearby Kafr Zita "were still proud" of their descent from 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 ...

tribe. For much of the Ottoman period, the Mawali were

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 ...

s who dominated the northern and central

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 ...

until they were driven closer to Hama and

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 ...

in the late 18th century by the

Anaza Anaza'' or ''anaza'' (; sometimes also transliterated as anza'' or ''anza'') is a short spear or staff that held ritual importance in the early period of Islam. The term gained significance after the Islamic prophet Muhammad planted his spe ...

, a Bedouin tribal confederation from

Najd Najd is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in Al-Jawf Province, al-Jawf to the north, ...

(central Arabia). The ''Bulletin'', writing in 1933, noted that the inhabitants of Suran, like several other places whose residents were of Bedouin origin near Hama, owned their lands collectively and subject to periodic sharing ('' musha'''). The village was wealthy and well-cultivated. This, and its close proximity to the city of Hama, had long made the village an attractive investment for Hama's landowning elites. Unlike numerous other villages in the vicinity, especially

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 ...

villages, the Sunni Muslim residents of Suran staved off attempts by the urban elite to gain ownership of their lands. Such an attempt had occurred in 1929, when Suran's

mukhtar A mukhtar (; ) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule". According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the mukhtar "for centuries were the central figures". They "were ...

(headman) was prosecuted by the authorities for arms smuggling. The notables of Hama offered to support the mukhtar and the villagers against the legal proceedings in exchange for some plots of land in Suran. The mukhtar, conscious that this would allow the urban elite a foothold in the village, as had happened in other nearby places, rejected their offer.

Syrian civil war

In 2024, as part of the Syrian opposition offensive and Syrian Army retreat, the town was occupied by

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 ...

(HTS). On 2 December 2024, heavy fighting occurred in the area. On 3 December, HTS regained control over the city.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Hama Governorate, hama Populated places in Hama Governorate