Al-Sanamayn

Coordinates: 33°04′16″N 36°11′3″E / 33.07111°N 36.18417°E / 33.07111; 36.18417
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Al-Sanamayn
ٱلصَّنَمَيْن
Sunamein
Sanamain
Al-Sanamein
UTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)+3

Al-Sanamayn (

Arabic: ٱلصَّنَمَيْن, romanized: aṣ-Ṣanamayn, also spelled Sanamein, Sanamain, Sunamein) is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate and the center of al-Sanamayn District. It is located 55 kilometres (34 miles) north of Daraa and 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Damascus. Nearby localities include Kafr Shams to the northwest, Deir al-Bukht to the north, Jabab to the northeast, Bassir to the east, Tubna to the southeast, Inkhil to the southwest and Qayta to the west.[1]

According to the

Sunni Muslims.[3]
Al-Sanamayn has an altitude of 640 metres (2,100 feet).

Etymology

The name al-Sanamayn is

Arabic for "the Two Idols."[4] See below
for possible explanation (two Roman temples).

History

Roman period

Sanamayn has been identified with the

Julian the Apostate in the mid to late 4th-century was discovered in al-Sanamayn.[7]

Medieval Islamic and Crusader period

Al-Sanamayn had its own governor under Ikhshidid rule (939–969) until 945 when the Banu Uqayl was entrusted with governing the Hauran region.[8]

A peace treaty between

Nur al-Din awarded each soldier 20 dinars before they departed.[11]

The place was visited by medieval Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in the 1220s during Ayyubid rule, and noted it was "a town in the Hauran, 2 marches from Damascus."[12]

From the Middle Ages to the present day, the temple dedicated to Tyche was used as a mosque. Today it is also one of the best preserved Roman edifices in Syria.[6]

Ottoman period

As in other towns on the

Muslim population consisting of 80 households and 37 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 20% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, in addition to on a water mill. The total taxes were 18,900 akçe.[15]

In 1672, the village contained a

congregational mosque with a minaret, two small mosques, a large khan (caravanserai) and hammam (bathhouse), but had no market.[13] The Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi noted that some prostitutes sought work by the roadside in al-Sanamayn.[13]

In the mid-19th-century, explorer

Turkoman family known as Kawwas-oghlu who maintained encampments between the town and Khan Dannun to the north. Al-Sanamayn was "well supplied with water," contained several bird species and its pools were filled with leeches which would be collected and sold in the markets of Damascus.[17] In 1898 the Baedeker Palestine and Syria: Handbook for travellers noted it as "an excellent example of a Hauran village."[18]

20th and 21st centuries

French Mandate, WWII

Towards the end of

French Mandate at the time.[19]

Civil war

Al-Sanamayn was among the first cities to stage mass demonstrations against the government of Bashar al-Assad on 18 March 2011, joining other Hauran cities like Daraa, Inkhil, Jasim and Da'el. According to opposition activists security forces did not fire on demonstrators that day.[20] On 25 March, however, 20 protesters were shot and killed by government forces after burning down[dubious – discuss] a statue of late president Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father.[21] An opposition activist in Damascus claimed that several protesters – as many as 20 according to some witnesses – were killed while attempting to march towards Daraa in a show of solidarity before being attacked by security forces, although that claim could not be confirmed. A government official claimed an armed group assaulted the Syrian Army headquarters in al-Sanamayn.[22] Al-Sanamayn is base to the 9th Division's 15th Brigade.[23] Activists alleged that on 18 September an eleven-year boy was killed after being shot in the head by security forces during a boycott protest by students in al-Sanamayn on the first day of the 2011–2012 school year.[24]

Local rebels were active in Sanamayn, and controlled large parts of the city,[25] but never completely controlled the city as it was home to a number of military security centers, and the 9th division.[26] Rebels would engage in small scale clashes or attack army positions with projectiles such as mortars.[25] The town was besieged by the Syrian Army and shelling commenced. Rebels and civilians in the town entered negotiations that concluded with a reconciliation agreement in which the rebels were to hand over their weapons and pledge not to carry out attacks against the government. They, along with draft-dodgers were also ordered to join the regular forces and the Russian-led 5th corps. 500 people including 150 rebel fighters signed the agreement, and Sanamayn came under nominal government control.[26]

Following the 2018 Southern Syria offensive, one of the terms of the reconciliation agreements was to allow civilians and rebel fighters to return to homes they were displaced from. Multiple civilians and former rebels returned to Sanamyan. Like other areas of Daraa governorate, Sanamayn became the frequent location of attacks against the Syrian Army and pro-government militias. Walid al-Zahra, a former commander and one of the rebels who returned to Sanmayn in 2018, led many of these attacks.[26]

Sanamayn was stormed by the Syrian Army in the

2020 Daraa clashes. Following this, the fighters either reconciled and settled their status or were evacuated to rebel-held northwest Syria.[27]

Climate

Al-Sanamayn has a

cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification
: BSk). Rainfall is higher in winter than in summer. The average annual temperature in Al-Sanamayn is 17.1 °C (62.8 °F). About 278 mm (10.94 in) of precipitation falls annually.

Climate data for Al-Sanamayn
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 12.2
(54.0) 		14.1
(57.4) 		17.8
(64.0) 		22.4
(72.3) 		28.3
(82.9) 		32.0
(89.6) 		33.2
(91.8) 		33.7
(92.7) 		31.3
(88.3) 		27.6
(81.7) 		20.8
(69.4) 		14.8
(58.6) 		24.0
(75.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 2.6
(36.7) 		3.3
(37.9) 		5.9
(42.6) 		8.7
(47.7) 		12.7
(54.9) 		15.5
(59.9) 		17.3
(63.1) 		17.6
(63.7) 		15.2
(59.4) 		12.7
(54.9) 		7.9
(46.2) 		4.7
(40.5) 		10.3
(50.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 68
(2.7) 		52
(2.0) 		39
(1.5) 		14
(0.6) 		7
(0.3) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		8
(0.3) 		30
(1.2) 		60
(2.4) 		278
(10.9)
Source: Climate-Data.org,Climate data

References

  1. ^ Sanamayn Map. Mapcarta. Map depicts al-Sanamayn and nearby localities.
  2. ^ General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate. (in Arabic)
  3. ^ Yassin-Kassab, Robin. After all this bloodshed, there is no going back for Syria. The Guardian. 2011-06-16.
  4. ^ a b c d e Porter, 1858, p. 535
  5. ^ a b Butcher, 2003, p. 237
  6. ^ a b c Nelles Guide, 1999, p. 56
  7. ^ Satre, 2005, p. 209
  8. ISBN 9789004315983
    .
  9. ^ Shatzmiller, 1993, p. 204.
  10. ^ Gibb, 2003, p. 113
  11. ^ Burns, 2005, p. 159
  12. ^ Le Strange, 1890, pp. 530-531.
  13. ^ a b c Petersen 2012, p. 55
  14. ^ Peters, 1994, p. 154
  15. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 209
  16. ^ Newbold, 1846, p. 335
  17. ^ Newbold, 1846, p. 337
  18. ^ Baedeker 1898:183.
  19. ^ Michie, 1942, p. 82.
  20. ^ Sterling, Joe. Daraa: The spark that lit the Syrian flame. CNN. 2012-03-01.
  21. ^ Protests in Syria: Road to Damascus. The Economist. 2011-03-26.
  22. ^ Troops open fire as protests explode across Syria. USA Today. Originally published by Associated Press. 2011-03-25.
  23. ^ Holliday, Joseph (March 2013). "The Assad Regime: From Counterinsurgency To Civil War" (PDF). Institute for the Study of War.
  24. ^ Child shot dead in Syria protests. UPI. United Press International, Inc. 2011-09-18.
  25. ^ a b Al-Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad (27 April 2017). "'Reconciliation' in Syria: The Case of Al-Sanamayn". Middle East Forum. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  26. ^ a b c bassamalahmed (2020-04-22). "Daraa: Concern over Repeating "al-Sanamayn Scenario" in Other Areas despite the "Settlement Agreement"". Syrians for Truth and Justice. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  27. ^ "In Daraa, revolutionary anniversaries mired somewhere between dread and hope | SyriaUntold | حكاية ما انحكت". Retrieved 2020-05-31.

Bibliography

External links
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