Ariha (Arabic: أَرِيحَا, romanized: ʾArīḥā), also called Riha (رِيحَا, Rīḥā), is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate, located south of Idlib. Nearby localities include Urum al-Jawz to the southwest, Sarjah to the south, Kafr Latah to the southeast, Maar Bilit to the east, al-Nayrab to the northeast, Nahlaya and al-Mastumah to the north, Kurin to the northwest and Maataram to the west. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Ariha had a population of 39,501 in the 2004 census.[1] The town is also the administrative centre of the Ariha District and the Ariha nahiyah (subdistrict), which consists of 24 localities, with a combined population of 83,487 in 2004.[1]
Ariha
أَرِيحَا | |
|---|---|
Town | |
  Ariha Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates: 35°49′N 36°36′E / 35.817°N 36.600°E | |
| Country | Syria |
| Governorate | Idlib Governorate |
| District | Ariha District |
| Subdistrict | Ariha Nahiyah |
| Control |  Syrian opposition |
| Elevation | 680 m (2,230 ft) |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 39,501 |
| Demonym(s) | Arabic: ريحاوي, romanized: Rīḥāwi |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 |
History
editDuring the era of the Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire, Ariha was administratively dependent on Antioch. It reached its peak between 240 and 350 AD, as it became an important center of Christianity. The city was captured by the Rashidun army led by Amr ibn al-As in 637, and it became part of Jund Qinnasrin. During the Ayyubid era, it was under the administration of Aleppo and again then of Qinnasrin.
The Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote in 1226 that Ariha was a small town in the district of Aleppo and "one of the pleasantest and best of the places on God's earth." He remarked that it was abundant in orchards, gardens and rivers.[2]
Ariha was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1822.
In the mid-19th century, Orientalist Albert Socin passed by Ariha, noting that it had an estimated 3,000 inhabitants and was "beautifully situated" among olive orchards at the northern base of Jabal Zawiya.[3]
Syrian civil war
editDuring the Syrian Civil War, Ariha was the scene of fighting between government and rebel forces. The Free Syrian Army repelled a series of government assaults between March and June 2012, despite the government's ability to execute combined arms operations involving armored vehicles, artillery, and helicopter gunships.[4] The city was retaken by the government on 11 August 2012.[5]
By late July 2013, rebels controlled parts of Ariha, while government forces manned three checkpoints inside the town.[6]
On 25 May 2014, the al-Nusra Front and the Suqour al-Sham Brigade launched a two-pronged assault on the southern Ariha hills with the objective of seizing two military outposts; the Fanar Restaurant Checkpoint and the Shami Military Installation sit atop two peaks in the area south of the town and control access to the southern neighborhoods of Ariha via two access roads. At 6 in the morning, the al-Nusra Front with support from Suqour al-Sham detonated four SVBIEDs against government infrastructure targets. All four SVBIEDs exploded in the Jabal al-Arbaeen area on the southern outskirts of Ariha. The first SVBIED, driven by Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, a 22-year-old American man from Florida, approached the Fanar Restaurant Checkpoint from the southwest along a dirt road. The 16-ton armored truck completely destroyed the checkpoint and caused it to crumble in on itself, leaving only few survivors to defend it. Over the course of the battle, two more SVBIEDs exploded to the west of Fanar, targeting the Shami Military Complex. The first two SVBIEDs targeted the Commander'’s building and Shami Checkpoint. One final VBIED targeted the Aram building, however the driver of the VBIED was able to park his vehicle and escape uninjured. The four explosions were followed by a barrage of artillery and gunfire. By the end of the day Jabhat al-Nusra and Suquor al-Sham had seized both the Fanar and Shami Checkpoints in one of the largest coordinated SVBIED attacks since the beginning of 2014.[7] However, on 13 October 2014, it was reported that rebels destroyed a government APC at al-Fanar Checkpoint.[8]
On 24 August 2014, rebels captured Ariha. The M4 passes through Ariha before connecting with the M5 in Saraqib. Controlling the section of the M4 in Ariha allowed opposition forces to cut off the government's supply line from Latakia to Idlib and Aleppo cities. Two days later, on 26 August, rebels attacked the government-controlled Qiyasat checkpoint next to Ariha, destroying a government tank in their attempt to disrupt the government's supply line from Idlib to Latakia. "The rebels are trying to capture Ariha so they can move closer to [Idlib]," Ines Qadur, an independent journalist in the south of Idlib, told Syria Direct, "where they will be able to make Idlib city the next battle front.".[9] However, after 10 days of bombardment, government forces recaptured the town on September 3.[10][11]
On 25 May 2015, the Army of Conquest captured Ariha from government forces.[12][13]
On 12 January 2017, Russian warplanes raided around Ariha, killing a Uyghur Turkistan Islamic Party leader Abu Rida al-Turkistani and his family.[14][15] Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı said that Russians bombed the family of Uyghur fighters in Idlib and the TIP retaliated by firing rockets against Iranian militias.[16]
On 21 February 2018, the Syrian Liberation Front captured Ariha from Tahrir al-Sham.[17] In January 2019, Tahrir al-Sham recaptured Ariha.[18]
Climate
editAriha has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa).
| Climate data for Ariha | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.8 (47.8) |
11.0 (51.8) |
15.6 (60.1) |
21.1 (70.0) |
27.1 (80.8) |
31.2 (88.2) |
33.0 (91.4) |
33.7 (92.7) |
30.8 (87.4) |
25.5 (77.9) |
17.9 (64.2) |
11.3 (52.3) |
22.3 (72.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 5.2 (41.4) |
6.6 (43.9) |
10.3 (50.5) |
14.8 (58.6) |
20.0 (68.0) |
24.4 (75.9) |
26.7 (80.1) |
27.1 (80.8) |
23.9 (75.0) |
18.9 (66.0) |
12.3 (54.1) |
7.3 (45.1) |
16.5 (61.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) |
2.3 (36.1) |
5.1 (41.2) |
8.5 (47.3) |
13.0 (55.4) |
17.6 (63.7) |
20.5 (68.9) |
20.6 (69.1) |
17.0 (62.6) |
12.3 (54.1) |
6.7 (44.1) |
3.3 (37.9) |
10.7 (51.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 104 (4.1) |
96 (3.8) |
67 (2.6) |
42 (1.7) |
21 (0.8) |
7 (0.3) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
8 (0.3) |
26 (1.0) |
43 (1.7) |
107 (4.2) |
521 (20.5) |
| Average snowy days | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Source: Climate-Data.org [19] | |||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ a b General Census of Population and Housing 2004 Archived 2013-02-06 at the Wayback Machine. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Idlib Governorate. (in Arabic)
- ^ le Strange, 1890, pp. 520-521.
- ^ Baedeker, p. 563.
- ^ Mariam Karouny, “Soldiers wary as residents rage in Syria’s Idlib,” Reuters, 10 May 2012.
- ^ "Syrian opposition leader calls for no-fly zone". CBS News. 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
- ^ "Deadly fighting rages across Syria". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
- ^ Nate Petrocine (July 2014). "Rebel Operations in Idlib Province during the Spring of 2014". Institute for the Study of War.
- ^ "Daily Report: Monday 13 October 2014". RFS Media Office. 13 October 2014. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
- ^ syriadirect.org/rss/1517-syria-direct-news-update-8-26-2014
- ^ "Army Retakes Strategic Town in Northwest Syria". Naharnet.
- ^ "Assad forces capture strategic Syria northern town". News24.
- ^ "Rebels take Ariha from Assad". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. Archived from the original on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
- ^ (in Vietnamese) Phe nổi dậy chiếm thành phố cuối cùng tại tỉnh Idlib "Rebels take last city in Idlib Province" Archived 2015-05-30 at the Wayback Machine. Baotintuc. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
- ^ المحمود, زيد (2017-01-13). "مقتل قياديٍ في الحزب الإسلامي التركستانيٍ جراء غاراتٍ روسيةٍ بإدلب". كلنا شركاء في الوطن.
- ^ المحمود, زيد (2017-01-13). "مقتل قياديٍ في الحزب الإسلامي التركستانيٍ جراء غاراتٍ روسيةٍ بإدلب". MICRO SYRIA. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Türkistan İslam Cemaati Grand Füzeleriyle İran Milislerini Vuruyor-VİDEO HABER". Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı. Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
- ^ Waleed Khaled a-Noufal; Tariq Adely (22 February 2018). "Two of the largest factions in Syria's northwest merge, challenge HTS dominance". Syria Direct. Archived from the original on 23 July 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
- ^ "Ahrar al-Sham". Standford.
- ^ "Climate data for cities worldwide - Climate-Data.org". www.climate-data.org.
Bibliography
edit- le Strange, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Socin, Albert (1906). Palestine and Syria with the chief routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia: Handbook for Travellers. Karl Baedeker.
Birin Hama.