Slinfah

صلنفة / Ṣalinfa Slinfah
Slinfah
Coordinates	35 ° 36 '  N , 36 ° 11'  E Coordinates: 35 ° 36 '  N , 36 ° 11'  E
Basic data
Country	Syria
Governorate	Latakia
height	1200 m
Urban sprawl through holiday apartments above the town center

Slinfah ( Arabic صلنفة, DMG Ṣalinfa , also Slennfe ) is a small town in the Latakia governorate in Syria . It is about 1200 meters high in the north of the Jebel Aansariye .

location

The place is 50 kilometers east of Latakia on the Aansariye mountain range just before the end of a deeply cut transverse valley that slopes down to the Mediterranean. Halfway along the mountain road coming from the Mediterranean coast to al-Haffa passes the Saladinsburg (Qal'at Salah ed-Din) from the time of the Crusaders and there the only area in the country with high pine forest ( Calabrian pine , Pinus brutia ). In the near vicinity there are light remains of coniferous forests or evergreen and deciduous oaks in some valleys ; the thin, less fertile soil layer is littered with Jura limestone rocks . Agriculture is no longer possible at this height. Semi-nomadic livestock farming is insignificant. Five kilometers by road east of Slinfah is the highest point of the Jebel Aansariye at 1,542 meters. This is followed by an unstructured steep drop over 1000 meters up to the fertile Ghab plain, which is irrigated by the Nahr al-Asi (Orontes). A side road takes 20 kilometers down from the pass to the confluence with a larger road that leads north in the valley next to the Orontes Canal to the regional center of Jisr asch-Shugur .

history

The region with a predominantly rural population belongs to the Syrian old settlement areas and refuge for Ismailis , from the 13th century Al-Salamiyah have migrated and returned back there from the mid-19th century; and for Alawites who have their main settlement in the Latakia governorate. The general backwardness and hardly any possibility of self-sufficiency caused many residents to emigrate until the second half of the 20th century.

Slinfah itself was founded by Christians around 1928. The wealthy upper class from Latakia with ties to Lebanon took over the habit of retreating to the heights of the Lebanon Mountains in the hot summer months . This is how some summer resorts arose in the south of Jebel Aansariyye. Slinfah is the largest of these settlements in the north.

Townscape

A small town center with a few shops has been preserved from this period. In 1970, the villages in this mountainous region were predicted to experience further impoverishment and rural exodus due to the lack of economic power. The opposite has happened since then. Since the turn of the millennium in particular, there has been accelerated redevelopment along the road, on which Latakia can be reached in less than an hour's drive for commuters and holidaymakers. The center of Slinfah has gone under in an extensive new development area of ​​three to five-story apartment blocks with an urban character. A large part of these are holiday homes or are rented out as such. There are at least two hotels. The urban sprawl on the surrounding mountain slopes is enormous. Above all, the cooling off at night makes a summer stay attractive. In contrast, in the Mediterranean-oceanic mountain climate, snowfall is to be expected on well over 20 days in winter, which can remain until spring. Many apartments are then empty.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Eugen Wirth : Syria, a geographical country study. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1971, pp. 357, 373.