Abu Kamal
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البوكمال / al-Būkamāl Abu Kamal |
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| Coordinates | 34 ° 27 ' N , 40 ° 55' E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Syria | ||
| Deir ez-Zor | |||
| District | al-Bukamal | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | SY-DY | ||
| Nahiya | Markaz al-Bukamal | ||
| height | 170 m | ||
| Residents | 42,510 (2004) | ||
Abu Kamal or al-Bukamal ( Arabic البوكمال, DMG al-Būkamāl , French Abou Kamal , Turkish Ebu Kemal ) is the last city on the Euphrates in eastern Syria before the border with Iraq .
location
For Abu Kamal 52,020 inhabitants are given (2003 estimate). The city is located at an altitude of about 170 meters in the district of the same name in the Deir ez-Zor governorate on the southern edge of the Syrian al-Jazeera plain . It is seven kilometers to the Iraqi border crossing at al-Qa'im , and ancient Mari is nine kilometers to the northwest.
The region has a full desert climate with less than 120 millimeters of annual precipitation. This means that agriculture is only possible in an irrigated strip along the Euphrates. Even grazing areas for cattle nomads are hardly available.
economy
The main source of income in Abu Kamal is border trade and smuggling.
history
In Roman times, Abu Kamal was an important trading post between the Roman Empire and Asia. Conquered by Zenobia , it became part of the Kingdom of Palmyra . In the 17th century the city was, at that time Abukamal or Ebukemal seat of an Ottoman Sanjak in the Vilayet al-Ruha, today Sanliurfa .
Between 1881 and 1909 what was then the village was expanded into a city, which grew through immigrants from the Iraqi town of Ana . After the Iraqi uprising against the British in 1920, the French occupied Abu Kamal together with Deir ez-Zor in 1921 and made the city the seat of a garrison. In 1932 the place had about 1000 inhabitants. In the early 1940s he owned a police station, a post office and a customs office. There were stone-built houses and wide, right-angled streets after the settlement earlier to the east was destroyed by a flood. In 1946, Abu Kamal became part of independent Syria.
In 1970 the place had an estimated 9,000 inhabitants. A large part of the inhabitants belong to the tribal federation of the 'Uqaydat (Agedat,' Egaidat), whereby “Bu Kamal” is also the name of a tribe within this federation. Sheikh of the Uqaydat from Bukamal is Amir al-Dandal .
After the invasion of Iraq by the United States in the Iraq War in 2003, the city initially experienced an economic boom. After the border crossing was closed, there was no busy trade and the political situation was tense. Foreigners who came to the city were viewed with suspicion by the Syrian secret service.
Abu Kamal is located near the Iraqi city of al-Qa'im , which became the transition point for Iraqi insurgents and was the site of Operation Steel Curtain in November 2005 .
During the protests in Syria in 2011 , the first Friday demonstrations took place in Abu Kamal in May. The city was then occupied with the use of tanks. In June these withdrew again. Three weeks later, Abu Kamal was reoccupied and, according to reports from Iraqi residents in 2011, fighting with the use of military weapons took place almost daily.
The Islamic State terrorist militia captured the city and the military base near the city .
At the end of June 2016, Syrian rebels managed at short notice to dispute the border town with the Islamic State and to recapture the military base. On November 8, 2017, the Syrian army announced that they had retaken the city. On November 11, 2017, the Islamic State terrorist militia beat the Syrian army back from Abu Kamal. On November 19, 2017, the Syrian army took Abu Kamal again. In early June 2018, the Islamic State terrorist militia brought parts of the city under their control for a short time.
Web links
- Inga Rogg: There is shooting at night. On the Syrian-Iraqi border. Die Tageszeitung, November 29, 2011 (background report on the situation in Abu Kamal during the protests in Syria 2011)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Syrian census 2004
- ^ The governorates of Syria and all Cities of more than 35,000 inhabitants , citypopulation.de, July 20, 2009.
- ^ Eugen Wirth : Syria, a geographical country study. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1971, p. 437.
- ↑ Nicholas Heras, Bassam Barabandi, Nidal Betare: Deir Azzour Tribal Mapping Project. Center for a New American Security, October 2, 2017
- ↑ Ibrahim Hamidi: Exclusive - Syrian Sunni-Alawite Dialogue Forms Council to Implement Coexistence Agreement. Asharq Al-Awsat, March 19, 2019
- ↑ Syrian rebels launch attack on ISIS-held town , Reuters / alarabiya, June 28, 2016, accessed June 29, 2016
- ↑ Syrian rebels are pushing IS militia. Deutschlandfunk Nachrichten of June 29, 2016, accessed June 29, 2016
- ↑ Army recaptured the last major IS city. Deutschlandfunk from November 8, 2017
- ↑ Battle of Abu Kamal: IS apparently pushing back the army. tagesschau.de, November 11, 2017
- ↑ n-tv news television: Syrian army recaptures IS bastion . In: n-tv.de . ( n-tv.de [accessed on November 19, 2017]).