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Al-Kafr

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(Redirected from Al-Kefr) Not to be confused with Kafir, Idlib. Village in as-Suwayda, Syria
Al-Kafr الكفر
Village
Al-Kafr townAl-Kafr town
Al-Kafr is located in SyriaAl-KafrAl-KafrLocation in Syria
Coordinates: 32°38′00″N 36°38′30″E / 32.63333°N 36.64167°E / 32.63333; 36.64167
Country Syria
Governorateas-Suwayda
Districtas-Suwayda
Subdistrictas-Suwayda
Elevation1,360 m (4,460 ft)
Population
 • Total7,458
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Al-Kafr (Arabic: الكفر, also spelled al-Kefr) is a village in as-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria. It is located 8 km to the southeast of as-Suwayda. It is known for its forest and good wine, and it was the site of a number of battles during the 19th and 20th centuries. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Kafr had a population of 7,458 in the 2004 census.

Modern-day al-Kafr was settled by Druze coming from other areas in central Ottoman Syria between 1857 and 1860, at a time when the Druze chieftain Isma'il al-Atrash was becoming the preeminent force of the Jabal al-Druze area over his Druze rivals in the Hamdan clan. Druze settlement in al-Kafr and other villages, like Najran, on the southern borders of the Lajat plain, the Druze were able to encircle the Sulut Bedouin tribe that had dominated the area previously. Al-Kafr was one of two villages (the other being Qanawat) that put up armed resistance to the 30-battalion-strong force assembled by the Ottoman governor Sami Pasha al-Faruqi to suppress the Hauran Druze Rebellion, led by Zuqan al-Atrash, against the government. The Druze sheikhs ultimately surrendered to the government.

During French Mandatory rule, on 22 July 1925, al-Kafr became the site of the Battle of al-Kafr, in which the forces of Sultan al-Atrash routed a French army column sent to defeat Sultan's men at Salkhad. The battle essentially precipitated the countrywide Great Syrian Revolt against French rule.

References

Sunset in Al Kafr
  1. ^ General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. (in Arabic)
  2. Firro 1992, p. 189
  3. Firro 1992, p. 68
  4. Firro 1992, p. 243
  5. Firro 1992, pp. 285–286.

Bibliography

External links

Suwayda Governorate
Shahba District
Shahba
Subdistrict
Ariqah
Subdistrict
Shaqqa
Subdistrict
Surah Saghirah
Subdistrict
Suwayda Governorate
Suwayda Governorate within Syria
Suwayda District
Suwayda
Subdistrict
Mazra'ah
Subdistrict
Mushannaf
Subdistrict
Salkhad District
Salkhad
Subdistrict
Qurayyah
Subdistrict
Ghariyah
Subdistrict
Dhibin
Subdistrict
Malah
Subdistrict
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