Beit Sawa بيت سوا Bayt Sawa | |
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Village | |
  Beit Sawa | |
| Coordinates:33°32′16″N36°23′59″E / 33.53778°N 36.39972°E /33.53778; 36.39972 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Rif Dimashq Governorate |
| District | Markaz Rif Dimashq |
| Nahiya | Kafr Batna |
| Population (2004)[1] | |
• Total | 6,249 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (EEST) |
Beit Sawa (Arabic:بيت سوا; also spelledBayt Sawa) is a village in southernSyria, administratively part of theMarkaz Rif Dimashq District of theRif Dimashq Governorate, located just east ofDamascus. Nearby localities includeHammurah andSaqba to the south,Arbin to the west,Mesraba andDouma to the north. According to theSyria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Beit Sawa had a population of 6,249 in the 2004 census.[1]
According to historianIrfan Shahid, who specializes in Byzantine history, it is possible that Beit Sawa was the site of the Damascene monastery of Sawa al-Haykal.[2] "Haykal" refers to a religious building,[3] such as a temple or monastery, where refugees and other struggling people could find safety.[2]
The village was referenced in a verse byUmayyad-era poet Ubayd Allah ibn Qays al-Ruqayyat.[2] Beit Sawa was visited by Syrian geographerYaqut al-Hamawi in the 1220s, noting that Beit Sawa was "a village of Damascus."[4]
In the late 18th-century, the farmlands of Beit Sawa were part of the principal religious endowment (waqf) of theashraf families in the northern Syrian city ofHama. The endowment fund belonged to Abd al-Qadir Kaylani, a local scholar and businessman from Hama who died in 1744.[5]
During the currentSyrian uprising that began in 2011, Beit Sawa and the nearby Hammurah fields, experienced intermittent shelling bySyrian Army for three days between June 30 to July 2, 2012.[6]
On 7 March 2018, the Syrian army captured Beit Sawa.[7]
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