Zara'a ( also spelled Zara or Zarah) 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 village located in the
Hirbnafsah Subdistrict
Hirbnafsah Subdistrict () is a Syrian ''nahiyah'' (subdistrict) located in Hama District in Hama. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Hirbnafsah Subdistrict had a population of 54,592 in the 2004 census.
References
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in
Hama District
Hama District ( ') is a district ( mantiqah) administratively belonging to Hama Governorate, Syria. At the time of the 2023 Census, it had a population of 1,054,000 Its administrative centre is the city of Hama. It is now controlled by the Syrian ...
. It is situated along the banks of the
Orontes River
The Orontes (; from Ancient Greek , ) or Nahr al-ʿĀṣī, or simply Asi (, ; ) is a long river in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon, flowing northwards through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ in Hatay Province, Turk ...
. According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Zara'a had a population of 929 in the 2004 census. The village is mainly inhabited by
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 ...
.
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 control of the village on 12 May 2016. There were reports that Alawite families either fled or were killed.
As of 10 February 2025, the village remained uninhabited.
References
Populated places in Hama District
{{HamaSY-geo-stub