Al-Bab الْبَاب Bab Biza'ah | |
|---|---|
  Al-Bab Location of al-Bab in Syria | |
| Coordinates:36°22′21″N37°31′04″E / 36.3725°N 37.5178°E /36.3725; 37.5178 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Aleppo |
| District | al-Bab |
| Subdistrict | al-Bab |
| Control | Syrian transitional government |
| Elevation | 471 m (1,545 ft) |
| Population (2004)[1] | |
• Total | 63,069 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Al-Bab (Arabic:الْبَاب /ALA-LC:al-Bāb) is a Syrian city, administratively belonging to theAleppo Governorate. Al-Bab is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast ofAleppo, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the Turkish border, and has an area of 30 square kilometres (12 square miles). Al-Bab has an altitude of 471 metres (1,545 feet). According to theCentral Bureau of Statistics (CBS), it had a population of 63,069 in 2004.[1] The population has surged to about 100,000 during theSyrian Civil War.[2]
Prior to theSyrian Civil War, al-Bab's inhabitants were composed of aSunniArab majority, and aKurdish minority outside the city center.[3]
As of February 2025, the city is under the control of theSyrian National Army, as part of theSyrian Interim Government. TheTurkish Armed Forces currently maintain a presence in the city.
Al-Bāb in Arabic meansthe door. According toArab geographerYaqut al-Hamawi in 1226, the name is a shortening ofBāb Bizāʻah (the gate to Bizāʻah).Bizāʻah (alsoBuzāʻah andBzāʻā) is a town located about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) east of Al-Bāb.
During theRoman Empire, Al-Bab was acivitas of theRoman Province of Syria, known as Batnai.[4] Theruins of that settlement lie on the banks of the wadi 1 kilometre (0.62 mi)north of the modern town.[5] Roman Batnai should not be confused with theRoman townBatnae about 70 kilometres (43 mi) northeast.
Al-Bab wasconquered by theArab army of theRashidun Caliphate under caliphUmar ibn al-Khattab in the 7th century. It received its name, meaning "the Gate", duringIslamic rule as it served as "the gate" betweenAleppo and the adjacent town ofBuza'ah.
Until its rule by theAyyubids in the 13th century, the town was populated mostly byShias of theIsmaili sect.[6]
According toYaqut al-Hamawi in 1226, it was a small town in the district ofAleppo. In the town were markets filled withcotton products calledkirbas which were exported toDamascus andEgypt. The fourteenth-century historianAbu'l-Fida writes that al-Bab was a small town with a market, a bath, pleasant gardens, and a mosque (the Great Mosque of al-Bab).[6]
The fortunes of Al-Bab were shared with that of Aleppo when that city was conquered by theOttoman Empire in 1516, and was administered as part of theEyalet of Aleppo until 1866 and theVilayet of Aleppo until January 1919, when the district was occupied by French troops and attached to theState of Aleppo within theFrench mandate of Syria.
Until April 2012, Al-Bab had been relatively unscathed by theSyrian civil war. Between mid-May and mid-July, some 15 rebel groups formed within the city. The fight for Al-Bab included a series of raids and assaults on government offices over the course of two months, finally culminating on 18 July when rebels seized the final government stronghold within the city limits. According to opposition activists, an army garrison remained outside al-Bab and shelled the insurgents' positions.[7] Rebel forces pushed the army from this garrison on the south edge of town on 29 July, With the seizure of al-Bab, the insurgents in northern Aleppo gained considerable momentum.[8][9][10] The city's capture gave the militants full control of the areas northeast ofAleppo.[11] However, in the summer of 2013Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had a presence in the town and by mid November, 2013, was in full control of Al-Bab.[12]
Afterthe capture ofManbij by theSyrian Democratic Forces in August 2016, al-Bab was reported to bethe next objective of theSyrian Democratic Forces (SDF) campaign.[13] In December 2016, al-Bab came under anattack bySyrian rebels backed byTurkey. Turkish air strikes on 21 December destroyed 67Islamic State targets; 59 Turkish soldiers and over 200 rebels were reported killed.[14][15] Al-Bab was a strategically important town for Turkey because it did not want the two SDF regions to link up.[16] On 9 February 2017, a Russian air strikekilled three Turkish soldiers by mistake.[17] On 23 February 2017, al-Bab wascaptured byTurkish-backed rebels,[18] becoming a part of theTurkish buffer zone.
On 15 July 2020, unknown aircraft, suspected to be Russian, carried out airstrikes on the city of al-Bab. An apartment complex was destroyed in the attack.[19] One civilian was killed and at least 10 others were injured in the airstrikes. It was the first airstrike on the town since it was captured from theIslamic State.[20]
In February 2017, a Turkish trained police force of 2000 men was deployed in al-Bab.[21]
in 2019 it was announced that theUniversity of Gaziantep is opening a Faculty of Economics and administrative Sciences in al-Bab.[22]
Al-Bab has acold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSk) with influences of a continental climate during winter with hot dry summers and cool wet and occasionally snowy winters.The average high temperature in January is 8.3 °C (47 °F) and the average high temperature in July is 36.2 °C (97 °F). The snow usually falls in December or January.
| Climate data for Al Bab | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 17 (63) | 21 (70) | 31 (88) | 34 (93) | 41 (106) | 47 (117) | 46 (115) | 43 (109) | 41 (106) | 37 (99) | 30 (86) | 18 (64) | 47 (117) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.3 (46.9) | 9.6 (49.3) | 14.7 (58.5) | 19.6 (67.3) | 25.7 (78.3) | 31.6 (88.9) | 36.2 (97.2) | 36.1 (97.0) | 31.2 (88.2) | 24.0 (75.2) | 16.8 (62.2) | 10.1 (50.2) | 23.8 (74.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −1.1 (30.0) | 0.1 (32.2) | 3.0 (37.4) | 7.6 (45.7) | 13.5 (56.3) | 17.1 (62.8) | 20.9 (69.6) | 20.9 (69.6) | 17.3 (63.1) | 11.4 (52.5) | 3.4 (38.1) | 1.3 (34.3) | 10.9 (51.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −13 (9) | −10 (14) | −7 (19) | −2 (28) | 0 (32) | 9 (48) | 16 (61) | 15 (59) | 7 (45) | 5 (41) | −3 (27) | −8 (18) | −13 (9) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 60.3 (2.37) | 52.0 (2.05) | 46.1 (1.81) | 33.6 (1.32) | 17.9 (0.70) | 2.3 (0.09) | 0.1 (0.00) | 0.3 (0.01) | 2.2 (0.09) | 19.2 (0.76) | 35.2 (1.39) | 59.6 (2.35) | 328.8 (12.94) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 13 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 72 |
| Average rainy days | 12.3 | 12.3 | 12.1 | 10.6 | 6.8 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 6.5 | 8.7 | 11.9 | 84.7 |
| Average snowy days | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 5.9 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 72 | 68 | 63 | 61 | 54 | 45 | 37 | 38 | 45 | 56 | 68 | 71 | 57 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 120.9 | 140.0 | 198.4 | 243.0 | 319.3 | 366.0 | 387.5 | 365.8 | 303.0 | 244.9 | 186.0 | 127.1 | 3,001.9 |
| Source 1:World Meteorological Organization,[23]Hong Kong Observatory (sun 1961–1990)[24] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: BBC Weather (record highs and lows)[25] | |||||||||||||
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