Jund Qinnasrīn (Arabic:جُـنْـد قِـنَّـسْـرِيْـن, "military district ofQinnasrin") was one of five sub-provinces ofSyria under theUmayyad andAbbasid Caliphates, organized soon after theMuslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century CE. Initially, its capital wasQinnasrin, but as the city declined in population and wealth, the capital was moved toAleppo. By 985, the district's principal towns wereManbij,Alexandretta,Hama,Shaizar,Ma'arrat al-Nu'man,Samosata, Jusiya,Wadi Butnan,Rafaniyya, Lajjun,Mar'ash, Qinnasrin, al-Tinat (possibly ancientIssus),Balis, andSuwaydiyya.[1]
Originally a part ofJund Hims, the first Umayyad caliphMu'awiya I established the Jund Qinnasrin when he defeatedHasan ibn Ali, and subsequently detached the people of that area from their allegiance to him. 9th century Muslim historianal-Biladhuri says, however, that it was Muawiya's successorYazid I who founded the district after separating northern territories from Jund Hims. The newly established district was named after the ancient town ofQinnasrin which was located within its boundaries. Under the Umayyads, Jund Qinnasrin composed of three districts: Antioch, Aleppo, andManbij.[1]
After caliphal-Mansur's conquests of southernAnatolia, Syria's northern frontiers were considerably extended and in 786, during the reign of theHarun al-Rashid, the now-overgrown Jund Qinnasrin was subdivided. The area toward the northern frontier, comprising the territories ofAntioch and the lands east towardsAleppo were split from the district to formJund al-'Awasim. For the remainder of the Abbasid period, Jund Qinnasrin consisted of the cities of Aleppo (the capital of the district), Qinnasrin and the lands around them, as well as theSarmin territory.[1]