Qarfa (Arabic: قرفــا, also spelled Garfa or Kurfa) is a village in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Izra' District of the Daraa Governorate. Nearby localities include al-Shaykh Maskin to the northwest, Izra to the northeast, Maliha al-Atash to the east, Namir to the southeast, Khirbet Ghazaleh to the south and Abtaa to the southwest. In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Hirak had a population of 20,760.[1]
Qarfa
قرفــا | |
|---|---|
Village | |
  Qarfa | |
| Coordinates: 32°48′55″N 36°12′5″E / 32.81528°N 36.20139°E | |
| Grid position | 262/247 PAL |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Daraa Governorate |
| District | Izra District |
| Nahiyah | Al-Shaykh Maskin |
| Population (2004 census)[1] | |
| • Total | 4,885 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
History
editInside a private house in Qarfa a Greek inscription dedicating a church to Saint Bacchus was discovered. The inscription was dated to 589-590 CE and written on a stone lintel decorated with a cross.[2]
Ottoman era
editIn 1596, Qarfa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the Nahiya of Bani Malik al-Asraf in the Hawran Qada. It had a population of 42 households and 15 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, and goats or beehives, a total of 6,451 akçe. 5/24 of the revenue went to a Waqf[3]
In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village (Kurfa) in the Nukrah district, east of Al-Shaykh Maskin.[4]
Modern era
editOn 13 August 1962 a tribal feud in Qarfa between the al-Makayed and al-Manasser clans resulted in five people being wounded. The fighting was a result of old rivalries. Security forces arrested several people from the town and the wounded were evacuated to the hospital.[5]
During the ongoing Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011, opposition rebels from the Free Syrian Army attacked a petrol station in Qarfa, killing a relative of high-ranking government official Rustum Ghazaleh in early January 2013.[6]
Notable people
edit- Rustum Ghazaleh (1953–2015), Head of Syrian Political Security Directorate
References
edit- ^ a b General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate. (in Arabic)
- ^ Chaniotis, 2003, p. 521.
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 212
- ^ Smith; in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. 152
- ^ Mideast Mirror. 14. Arab News Agency. (1962). Page 20.
- ^ FSA kills relative of Syrian security chief in Deraa. Al Arabiya. 2013-01-05.
Bibliography
edit- Chaniotis, A. (2003). Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum. Vol. 50. BRILL Academic Publications. ISBN 9050634087.
- Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
External links
edit- Map of the town, Google Maps
- Cheikh Meskine-map; 21L