Mayadin ٱلْمِيَادِين | |
|---|---|
  Mayadin Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates:35°1′6″N40°27′12″E / 35.01833°N 40.45333°E /35.01833; 40.45333 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Deir ez-Zor |
| District | Mayadin |
| Subdistrict | Mayadin |
| Control | Syrian transitional government |
| Elevation | 195 m (640 ft) |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 44,028 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (AST) |
| Climate | BWh |
Mayadin (Arabic:ٱلْمِيَادِين/ALA-LC:al-Miyādīn) is a town in easternSyria. It is the capital of theMayadin District, part of theDeir ez-Zor Governorate. Mayadin is about 44 kilometers southeast ofDeir ez-Zor. TheEuphrates River flows through the town. In the 2004 census, the population was 44,028, making it the second most populous town in the governorate.[1]
Mayadin has been identified to be the ancientAudattha known toPtolemy, though some suggest Audattha was whereHaditha now stands in Iraq.[2][3]
Mayadin is the successor of the medieval town and fortress ofRahbat Malik ibn Tawk, founded by theAbbasid lord and the original town's namesake,Malik ibn Tawk.[4] Strategically located at a crossroads on the western bank of theEuphrates and considered the key to Syria from Iraq, control of the town was highly contested by the Muslim powers andBedouin tribes of the region. It grew to become one of the major Muslim towns of the Euphrates valley and was an administrative center.[5]
An earthquake destroyed Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk in1157, after which it was granted by theZengid rulerNur ad-Din toAsad ad-Din Shirkuh, the paternal uncle of future Ayyubid sultan,Saladin.[6] Shirkuh relocated the fortress about four kilometers southwest of the original site.[5] The new settlement, known as "al-Rahba al-Jadida",[6] remained the significant center of the Euphrates region through much of theAyyubid–Mamluk era (12th–15th centuries),[5] and today is a ruined fortress known as "Qal'at al-Rahba". The original settlement eventually became known as "Mashhad Rahba". The latter was located at the present site of Mayadin.
In the early 20th century, Mayadin was the administrative seat of theAsharahkaza (subdistrict) of theSanjak of Zor district and contained the residence of itsqaimmaqam (governor).[7][8] In a British military intelligence report from the 1900s, the town had a population of 2,000 mostlySunni Muslims and a small minority of Christians.[8] There was abazaar, several shops and amosque with a leaningminaret.[8] According to Czech explorerAlois Musil, who visited in 1912, Mayadin had a garrison of twelvegendarmes, ten policemen and ten mule riders.[7] There was a boys' primary school in the town.[7] The population was about 2,500, consisting of roughly four hundred Muslim families, fifteenSyriac Orthodox families (mostly refugees fromMardin), and threeJewish families, living in a total of 380 houses.[7] On June 19, 1947,Pan Am Flight 121, crewed by third officerGene Roddenberry (who went on to create theoriginalStar Trek television series), crashed 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town.
The town was captured by theFree Syrian Army in late August 2012, with the only part still in regime hands being the Mayadin military base, an artillery position on a hill overlooking the town,[9] which in turn was captured on 22 November. This gave the rebels control of a large amount of territory east of the base to theIraqi border.[10] On 3 July 2014,ISIL captured Mayadin after ousting theFSA and raised theirblack standard.[11] A local underground resistance movement of Sunni Muslim fighters loyal to theal-Nusra Front attacked ISIL checkpoints in the city in 2015.[12] This forced ISIL militants to dig a 15 km (9 mi) defensive position around the city.[13]
On 3 April 2017, during theSDF'soffensive to capture Raqqa, it was reported that ISIL was possibly in the process of moving its capital fromRaqqa city to Mayadin. This followed months of gradual relocation of resources and senior ISIL leaders from Raqqa to Mayadin.[14] On 21 April 2017, the United States announced that they had conducted a ground raid in Mayadin and killed Abdulrakhman Uzbeki, an ISIS leader.[15]
On 18 June 2017, Iranhit ISIL targets in Mayadin using domestic-based surface-to-surface mid-range missiles.[16]
By the 10 October 2017, the town was besieged by the SAA and fighting had begun in the suburbs in preparation to storm the town.[17]
On 11 October 2017, theSyrian Army madehuge advances inside the town of Mayadin and has taken control of about 60 percent of the town.[18]
On 14 October 2017, theSyrian Arab Army retook the town thus ending the 4 year longISIL rule over it.[19][20][21]
In June 2018, ISILunsuccessfully attempted to retake the town.
There is a football club in the city calledAl-Mayadin SC, which plays the second highest competition in Syria.[22]
Mayadin has ahot desert climate (Köppen climate classificationBWh).
| Climate data for Mayadin | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 13.2 (55.8) | 16.1 (61.0) | 20.3 (68.5) | 26.1 (79.0) | 32.1 (89.8) | 37.7 (99.9) | 40.4 (104.7) | 40.3 (104.5) | 35.9 (96.6) | 29.7 (85.5) | 21.8 (71.2) | 15.1 (59.2) | 27.4 (81.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 7.9 (46.2) | 10.0 (50.0) | 13.6 (56.5) | 18.8 (65.8) | 24.4 (75.9) | 29.5 (85.1) | 32.3 (90.1) | 32.1 (89.8) | 27.7 (81.9) | 21.7 (71.1) | 14.8 (58.6) | 9.5 (49.1) | 20.2 (68.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 2.7 (36.9) | 3.9 (39.0) | 6.9 (44.4) | 11.6 (52.9) | 16.7 (62.1) | 21.4 (70.5) | 24.3 (75.7) | 24.0 (75.2) | 19.5 (67.1) | 13.8 (56.8) | 7.8 (46.0) | 3.9 (39.0) | 13.0 (55.5) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 27 (1.1) | 22 (0.9) | 23 (0.9) | 21 (0.8) | 9 (0.4) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.0) | 7 (0.3) | 12 (0.5) | 24 (0.9) | 146 (5.7) |
| Source:[1] | |||||||||||||
