Ma'an معان | |
|---|---|
Town | |
  Ma'an Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates:35°21′35″N36°47′45″E / 35.359586°N 36.795702°E /35.359586; 36.795702 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Hama |
| District | Hama |
| Subdistrict | Suran |
| Control |  Syrian Salvation Government |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 1,561 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Ma'an (Arabic:معان, also spelledMaan) is a town in northernSyria, administratively part of theHama Governorate, located north ofHama. Nearby localities includeSuran to the southwest,Murik to the northwest,al-Tamanah to the north,Atshan to the northeast,Tuleisa to the east,Fan al-Shamali to the southeast andKawkab to the south. According to theSyria Central Bureau of Statistics, Ma'an had a population of 1,561 in the 2004 census.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantlyAlawites.[2]
Ma'an was sold by theMawali, a semi-Bedouin tribe in central Syria, to the Kaylaninotable family ofHama. The inhabitants of Ma'an, as of the early 1930s, wereSunni Muslim Arab tenant farmers.[3] By a later point, the majority of the inhabitants wereAlawites.[4] The Kaylani family sold it to a citizen ofLebanon, who later sold most of its lands to the local farmers before the 1958 Agrarian Reform Laws, which redistributed lands to the peasants across Syria.[5] The palace of the original owner the village remains standing. Built of basaltic stone, it consists of two stories and contains warehouses, stables, kitchens and a courtyard.[5]
The village was connected to the electric grid in 1977. In 1990, a municipality was established to administer the village. As of 2010, pistachio orchards spanned about 80% of Ma'an's lands and pistachio, olive and grape cultivation and poultry farming represented the village's main economic activity.[5]
In late December 2012, during theSyrian civil war, Islamist rebel fighters from theal-Nusra Front took over large parts of the town as part of awider offensive in theHama Governorate. During the battle, 11 rebels and 20Syrian Army soldiers were killed.[2] It was the site of theMaan massacre in 2014. On 13 October 2016 the town was recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army.[6]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
