Kanaker, Syria

Kanaker
كناكر
Village
Kanaker
Coordinates: 33°16′2″N 36°5′49″E / 33.26722°N 36.09694°E / 33.26722; 36.09694
Country  Syria
Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate
District Qatana District
Nahiyah Sa'sa'
Population (2004 census)[1]
  Total 13,950
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
  Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Area code(s) 11

Kanaker (Arabic: كناكر) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate, located southwest of Damascus. Nearby localities include Sa'sa' to the west, Beit Saber to the northwest, Khan al-Shih to the north, Zakiyah, al-Taybah, Khan Dannun and al-Kiswah to the northeast, Deir Ali and Jubb al-Safa to the east, Ghabaghib to the southeast, Kafr Nasej and Deir al-Adas to the south and Jabah to the southwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Kanaker had a population of 13,950 in the 2004 census, making it the largest locality in the nahiyah ("subdistrict") of Saasaa.[1] Kanaker marks the western boundary of the Marj al-Suffar plain.[2]

Kanaker was settled by Druze from Mount Lebanon in 1862 and by 1867, the Abu Ras family, a prominent Druze clan and ally of the al-Atrash family, gained control of the village.[3] When the chief of the al-Atrash, Ismail Pasha, stayed a night at Kanaker, he massacred its Christian inhabitants before launching an attack on the Christian forces of the Shihab dynasty at Rashaya in Lebanon.[4] Kanaker continued to be inhabited by Druze through 1883 and a certain time beyond.[5]

Syrian civil war

During the ongoing Syrian civil war, on 27 July 2011, the Syrian human rights groups reported that eight or eleven people were killed during a Syrian Army raid in Kanaker and about 250 people were arrested. Four tanks and a bulldozer reportedly entered the village while another 14 tanks surrounded the place.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. (Arabic)
  2. Bosworth, p. 546.
  3. Firro, 1992, p. 184.
  4. Marmaduke William Pickthall; Muhammad Asad (2000). Islamic Culture. Islamic Culture Board.
  5. Firro, 1992, p. 176.
  6. Syria forces kill eight in Kanaker raid - rights groups. BBC News. 2011-06-27.

Bibliography

  • Elisséeff, N. "Mard̲j̲al-Ṣuffar". Encyclopaedia of Islam. 6 (Second ed.). pp. 546–548. 
  • Firro, Kais (1992). A History of the Druzes. 1. BRILL. ISBN 9004094377. 


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