Kafr Kila كفر كيلا | |
|---|---|
Village | |
  Kafr Kila | |
| Coordinates:36°8′35″N36°34′22″E / 36.14306°N 36.57278°E /36.14306; 36.57278 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Idlib |
| District | Harem |
| Subdistrict | Kafr Takharim Nahiyah |
| Population (2004 census)[1] | |
• Total | 2,037 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Kafr Kila (Arabic:كفر كيلا, also spelledKafr Kile) is a town in northwesternSyria, administratively part of theIdlib Governorate, located north ofIdlib. Nearby localities includeKafr Takharim to the southwest,Qurqania to the southeast,Barisha to the northeast,Qalb Loze to the north,Harem to the northwest andIsqat andSalqin to the west. According to theSyria Central Bureau of Statistics, Kafr Kila had a population of 2,037 in the 2004 census.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly members of theDruze community.[2][3]
Kafr Kila's inhabitants, like most Druze in the area, work primarily in agriculture and cultivate olives andcumin.[3] The village contains a number ofByzantine ruins.[4] Of these ruins include an ornatebasilica, with an entrance topped by a particularly decoratedlintel.[5]
During theSyrian civil war, Kafr Kila's residents provided shelter for internal refugees. In 2014, although the Idlib region (with the exception ofIdlib and small pockets of territory) was largely underopposition control, theFree Syrian Army (FSA) had not entered Kafr Kila or other Druze villages because the villages maintained their neutrality in the conflict and hosted many displaced families from neighboring towns. However, towards the end of 2013, militants from theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), aSalafi jihadist organization, largely became dominant over the FSA and captured Kafr Kila along with other Druze-majority villages in the area. They reportedly demanded that residents "announce their Islam" by converting their prayer houses intomosques and trimming theirmoustaches.[3]
