Idlib

إدلب / Idlib Idlib
Coordinates	35 ° 56 '  N , 36 ° 38'  E Coordinates: 35 ° 56 '  N , 36 ° 38'  E
Basic data
Country	Syria
Governorate	Idlib
height	440 m
Residents	164,983 (2010)
View from the surrounding hills into the Idlib valley

Idlib , also Idleb or Edleb ( Arabic إدلب, DMG Idlib , tooإدلب الخضراء), with 164,983 inhabitants (2010 calculation) is the capital of the Idlib Governorate ( Muhafazat Idleb ) in northwest Syria .

During the civil war in Syria , Idlib became the last major retreat for the opposition forces and has been the scene of a large-scale military offensive by the Syrian armed forces since the beginning of 2020 .

Cityscape

The city is located around 50 km southwest of Aleppo and 45 km east of Jisr el-Shugur on the former main road to Latakia . A new motorway now bypasses the city in the south. The border with Turkey is about 20 km away.

population

Before the civil war in Syria that began in 2011 , the majority of the population consisted of Sunnis and only small minorities of Christians and Druze . Besides Arabs , there were some Kurds and Turkmen .

Around 2011 there were around 60 Christian families in Idlib - in percentage terms far fewer than the national average - and only two churches. When rebels marched into the city on March 27, 2015, they committed several serious war crimes : First they executed a number of Christians. Two days later, all Christians left the city after being told to do so over the loudspeaker and had to hand over their valuables to the rebels. The refugees found shelter in various places, including many in the "Valley of the Christians" ( Wadi an-Nasara ) near Homs .

history

Almost no remains from Roman times have survived. A settlement was founded in the Middle Ages and received city rights from a governor of Aleppo around 1700. At that time there was a souq , at least one hammam and one chan . The public institutions were partly financed by pious foundations ( Waqf ) . In 1838 there were 15 soap factories in Idlib that processed the regionally produced olive oil. Other domestic trades in the 19th century included the manufacture of reed mats and dye works, of which 45 were still operating at the end of the 19th century. In 1890, in addition to a large market, the important regional center is said to have had 14 mosques and 9 Koran schools . In 1932 the place had 12,000 inhabitants.

In the course of the civil war in Syria , the city was captured by the Islamist rebel alliance Jaish al-Fatah in March 2015 . On July 23, 2017, she was driven out of the city by the Islamist but hostile Haiʾat Tahrir asch-Scham . As the war continued, Idlib became the last major refuge for the opposition forces. Since the beginning of 2020, Idlib has been the scene of a large-scale military offensive by the Syrian armed forces . The Syrian President Assad is accused of committing serious war crimes and targeting civilians . Around one million people have fled as a result of the attack, some of whom had fled to Idlib from other parts of the country before.

agricultural economics

An olive grove near Idlib

The climate is dry Mediterranean. It rains less than on the coast, but enough to grow winter crops, olive trees , fruit trees and grapes. Idlib is one of the traditional olive growing areas where the local harvest is commercially processed. Many families cultivate their own olive groves in the area. There are several olive oil presses in town. During the French mandate , the Idlib region was the first in Syria to introduce non-irrigated cotton cultivation.

Sports

The Umayya sports club is of regional importance .

Web links

Commons : Idlib  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives:
2. ↑ Expulsion of Christians from Idlib - Mayda's fate. According to Sister Marie-Rose: Because hope never dies. 30 survival stories of people in Syria . Christian Solidarity International (Switzerland), October 23, 2018.
3. ^ Eugen Wirth : Syria, a geographical country study. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1971, pp. 279, 328, 376
4. ^ 'Army of Conquest' rebel alliance pressures Syria regime. In: Bigles Yahoo. The Long War Journal, April 25, 2011, accessed on May 25, 2015 : "new rebel alliance calling itself the Army of Conquest has seized key positions" 
5. ^ France 24 : New Islamist alliance seizes Idlib from Syrian troops. france24.com, March 30, 2015, accessed May 31, 2015 . 
6. ^ Jihadists take control of major Syrian city . In: Mail Online . Retrieved July 23, 2017. 
7. ↑ Selcan Hacaoglu: What's at Stake in Idlib, Last Battle in Syria's War. Retrieved March 2, 2020 .