Al-Bab

Name

Al-Bāb in Arabic means the door. According to Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in 1226, the name is a shortening of Bāb Bizāʻah (the gate to Bizāʻah). Bizāʻah (also Buzāʻah and Bzāʻā) is a town located about 10 km east of Al-Bāb.

History

During the Roman Empire, Al-Bab was a civitas of the Roman Province of Syria, known as Batnai. The ruins of that settlement lie on the banks of the wadi 1 km north of the modern town. Roman Batnai should not be confused with the Roman town Batnae about 70 km northeast.

Al-Bab was conquered by the Arab army of the Rashidun Caliphate under caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab in the 7th century. It received its name, meaning "the Gate", during Islamic rule as it served as "the gate" between Aleppo and the adjacent town of Buza'ah.

Until its rule by the Ayyubids in the 13th century, the town was populated mostly by Shias of the Ismaili sect.

According to Yaqut al-Hamawi in 1226, it was a small town in the district of Aleppo. In the town were markets filled with cotton products called kirbas which were exported to Damascus and Egypt. The fourteenth-century historian Abu'l-Fida writes that al-Bab was a small town with a market, a bath, pleasant gardens, and a mosque (the Great Mosque of al-Bab).

The fortunes of Al-Bab were shared with that of Aleppo when that city was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1516, and was administered as part of the Eyalet of Aleppo until 1866 and the Vilayet of Aleppo until January 1919, when the district was occupied by French troops and attached to the State of Aleppo within the French mandate of Syria.

Syrian Civil War

Main article: Battle of al-Bab

Until April 2012, Al-Bab had been relatively unscathed by the Syrian civil war. Between mid-May and mid-July, some 15 rebel groups formed within the city. The fight for Al-Bab included a series of raids and assaults on government offices over the course of two months, finally culminating on 18 July when rebels seized the final government stronghold within the city limits. According to opposition activists, an army garrison remained outside al-Bab and shelled the insurgents' positions. Rebel forces pushed the army from this garrison on the south edge of town on 29 July, With the seizure of al-Bab, the insurgents in northern Aleppo gained considerable momentum. The city's capture gave the militants full control of the areas northeast of Aleppo. However, in the summer of 2013 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had a presence in the town and by mid November, 2013, was in full control of Al-Bab.

After the capture of Manbij by the Syrian Democratic Forces in August 2016, al-Bab was reported to be the next objective of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) campaign. In December 2016, al-Bab came under an attack by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey. Turkish air strikes on 21 December destroyed 67 Islamic State targets; 59 Turkish soldiers and over 200 rebels were reported killed. Al-Bab was a strategically important town for Turkey because it did not want the two SDF regions to link up. On 9 February 2017, a Russian air strike killed three Turkish soldiers by mistake.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38919426

On 15 July 2020, unknown aircraft, suspected to be Russian, carried out airstrikes on the city of al-Bab. An apartment complex was destroyed in the attack. One civilian was killed and at least 10 others were injured in the airstrikes. It was the first airstrike on the town since it was captured from the Islamic State.

Security

In February 2017, a Turkish trained police force of 2000 men was deployed in al-Bab.

Education

in 2019 it was announced that the University of Gaziantep is opening a Faculty of Economics and administrative Sciences in al-Bab.

Climate

Al-Bab has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk) with influences of a continental climate during winter with hot dry summers and cool wet and occasionally snowy winters. The average high temperature in January is 8.3 °C and the average high temperature in July is 36.2 °C. The snow usually falls in December or January. | Jan record high C = 17 | Feb record high C = 21 | Mar record high C = 31 | Apr record high C = 34 | May record high C = 41 | Jun record high C = 47 | Jul record high C = 46 | Aug record high C = 43 | Sep record high C = 41 | Oct record high C = 37 | Nov record high C = 30 | Dec record high C = 18 | year record high C = 47 | Jan record low C = −13 | Feb record low C = −10 | Mar record low C = −7 | Apr record low C = −2 | May record low C = 0 | Jun record low C = 9 | Jul record low C = 16 | Aug record low C = 15 | Sep record low C = 7 | Oct record low C = 5 | Nov record low C = −3 | Dec record low C = −8 | year record low C = −13 | access-date = 10 November 2012}} Hong Kong Observatory (sun 1961–1990){{cite web | access-date = 10 November 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051035/http://www.weather.gov.hk/wxinfo/climat/world/eng/europe/gr_tu/aleppo_e.htm | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | url-status = dead | access-date = 10 November 2012

References

References

1. (2017-02-24). "'Car bomb kills 51' near al-Bab in Syria".
2. "Who Will Take al-Bab?".
3. Barrington Atlas, 2000, pl. 67 F4.
4. [http://www.trismegistos.org/geo/detail.php?tm=40637 Batnai (Tell Batnan) Syria (Syria)].
5. Le Strange, 1890, p.406.
6. McElroy, Damien. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9429965/Syria-dispatch-Rebels-forced-to-share-guns-as-Assads-tanks-roll-in-to-Aleppo.html Syria dispatch: Rebels forced to share guns as Assad's tanks roll in to Aleppo]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''. 2012-07-26.
7. Holliday, Joseph (17 September 2012), [http://www.understandingwar.org/map/campaign-north-syria Campaign for North Syria, September 2012], [[Institute for the Study of War]]
8. [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/201272962326559716.html Al Jazeera speaks to Syria secret police], Al Jazeera, 29 July 2012.
9. [http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/07/201273154349545922.html Rebels claim victory in Syria's al-Bab]. [[Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera]]. 2012-07-31.
10. McCormick, Ty. [http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/1325251 Morning Brief: Syrian rebels make gains in Aleppo, Al-Bab] {{Webarchive. link. (3 December 2013 . ''[[Foreign Policy]]''. 2012-07-31.)
11. [http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/the-islamic-state-of-iraq-and-ash-sham-expands-into-rural-northern-syria/ The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham Expands Into Rural Northern Syria] Joshualandis.com, 18 July 2013
12. Paul Iddon. (2016-08-15). "What happened to the race for Raqqa?".
13. Antonopoulos, Paul. (25 April 2017). "Free Syrian Army leader says they will fight Syrian Army, Kurdish YPG in rural Aleppo".
14. Tulay Karadeniz and Orhan Coskun. (2016-12-21). "Battle for Syria's al-Bab intensifies, 14 Turkish soldiers killed: army". Reuters.
15. Fabrice Balanche. (2017-02-11). "Syria conflict: What is at stake in the battle of al-Bab?". BBC News.
16. [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/02/turkish-backed-syrian-rebels-seize-al-bab-isil-170223123852238.html] "Turkey-backed rebels in 'near full control' of Al Bab", Al Jazeera, 23 January 2017.
17. (16 July 2020). "Suspected Russian airstrike kills civilian in Turkish-controlled Al-Bab in northern Syria".
18. (2020-07-17). "Al-Bab airstrikes widen rift between Ankara and Kremlin".
19. Postings, Robert. (2018-02-07). "Free Syria Police: Creating Security and Stability".
20. (2019-10-04). "Turkish university to open faculties in northern Syria". Reuters.