Kafr Nabl كَفْرنَبِل Kafranbel | |
|---|---|
Town | |
  Kafr Nabl Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates:35°36′50″N36°33′40″E / 35.61389°N 36.56111°E /35.61389; 36.56111 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Idlib |
| District | Maarrat al-Nu'man |
| Subdistrict | Kafr Nabl |
| Elevation | 735 m (2,411 ft) |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 15,455 |
Kafr Nabl (Arabic:كَفْرنَبِل,romanized: Kafr Nabil, also spelledKafranbel orKafr Nabil) is a town administratively belonging to theIdlib Governorate andMa'arrat al-Numan District in northwesternSyria. It is situated 735 meters (2,411 ft) above sea level. In the 2004 census by theSyrian Central Bureau of Statistics Kafr Nabl had a population of 15,455.[1] In the early 1960s it had a population of about 1,200. Kafr Nabl's inhabitants are predominantlySunni Muslim.[2]
Kafr Nabl is located on an ancientByzantine dead city, and is surrounded by some of the most importantDead Cities, such asSerjilla, Shanshrah, andal-Bara.[3]
Prior to theSyrian civil war, Kafr Nabl was Syria's largest producer of figs and a major producer of olives. About 3,700hectares, or 778,000 trees were used for fig cultivation. Roughly 60% of the population were employed in the production and natural processing of the fruit. Farmers in Kafr Nabl usually dedicated around 80% of their cultivation time to the production of figs and 20% for olives.[4]
Since the civil war, the town has gained fame for producing satirical videos about the war.[5] It belonged to an area controlled by theArmy of Conquest.[citation needed]
Planes of theRussian Air Force, based inLatakia, had begun to attack the city in the autumn of 2015.[6][7]
On November 23, 2018, activistRaed Fares and journalist Hamoud Junaid were killed in Kafr Nabl, by an unknown gunman.[8]
Most of the town's remaining inhabitants fled in early 2019, due to the violence that erupted during the2019 Northwestern Syria offensive.[9] Shortly thereafter, the rebel groups in control of the town received a "stark warning" fromRussia, which accused them of using it to stage alleged false-flag chemical attacks against the Syrian government, as well as a launching ground for missiles targeting government-controlled areas in violation of theIdlib demilitarization agreement.[10] On 21 July 2019, the local council of the rebel-held town declared that "everything [in the town] had been destroyed and burnt" as a result of clashes and government airstrikes targeting rebel positions within it.[11]
On February 25, 2020, the Syrian Army reimposed control on Kafr Nabl for the first time since 2012 during the2019–20 Northwestern Syria offensive and repulsed rebel attempts to re-take it during their counterattack.[12][13]
On November 30, 2024,Tahrir al-Sham liberated the city once again during theOperation Deterrence of Aggression.[14]
