Qurfays

Qurfays
قرفيص
Village
Qurfays
Coordinates: 35°15′59″N 35°59′19″E / 35.26639°N 35.98861°E / 35.26639; 35.98861
Country  Syria
Governorate Latakia Governorate
District Jableh District
Nahiyah Al-Qutailibiyah
Population (2004)[1]
  Total 799
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
  Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)

Qurfays (Arabic: القطيلبية, also spelled Qurfeis or Korfeis) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Jableh District in the Latakia Governorate, located south of Latakia. Nearby localities include Arab al-Mulk to the west, Jableh to the northwest, al-Aqibah and al-Qutailibiyah to the northeast, Dweir Baabda to the southeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Qurfays had a population of 5,566 in the 2004 census.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites and is one of the centers of the large Douba family. Ali Douba, the former longtime Chief of Military Intelligence.[2]

The municipality of Qurfays was established in 1979 to administer the local affairs of the village as well as nearby al-Barazin, al-Zahra, Bishnana and Mahwarta. There are about 7,000 people living in the municipality whose mayor in 2008 was Abdullah Ehsan.[3]

History

Qurfays served as minor fortress village under the authority of the Knights Hospitallers fortress of Margat in the 13th-century and was referred to as Corveis.[4] In 1271 the Mamluk sultan Baibars defeated the Crusaders in the coastal mountain range of Syria and forced the Hospitallers to evacuate Qurfays, among other fortresses.[5] However, before they withdrew, they destroyed Qurfays and nearby Balda.[5][6] In the 1281 treaty between Mamluk sultan Qalawun and the Crusader king Bohemond IV of Antioch, Qurfays was among the many fortresses officially handed to the Mamluks.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Latakia Governorate. (Arabic)
  2. Batatu, 1992, p. 240.
  3. Khatib, Sharaf.Municipality Qrfais and Wide Range of Services and Suffering from Lack of Central Lines for Sanitation. Unity Foundation for Press, Printing and Publishing. 2008-09-14.
  4. Riley-Smith, 2012, p. 91.
  5. 1 2 Riley-Smith, 2012, p. 211.
  6. Bronstein, 2005, p. 44.
  7. Holt, 1995, p. 63.

Bibliography

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