Al-Qaryatayn

Al-Qaryatayn
ٱلْقَرْيَتَين - ܩܪܝܬܝܢ
Karyatayn
Arab transcription(s)
 • English"The two villages"
Al-Qaryatayn is located in Syria
Al-Qaryatayn
Al-Qaryatayn
Location in Syria
Coordinates: 34°13′42″N 37°14′26″E / 34.22833°N 37.24056°E / 34.22833; 37.24056
Country Syria
GovernorateHoms
DistrictHoms
SubdistrictAl-Qaryatayn
Population
 (2004)
 • Total
14,208
Time zoneUTC+3 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (EEST)

Al-Qaryatayn (Arabic: ٱلْقَرْيَتَين, Syriac: ܩܪܝܬܝܢ[1]), also spelled Karyatayn, Qaratin or Cariatein, is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate located southeast of Homs. It is situated on an oasis in the Syrian Desert. Nearby localities include Tadmur (Palmyra) to the northeast, Furqlus to the north, al-Riqama and Dardaghan to the northwest, Mahin, Huwwarin and Sadad to the west, Qarah, Deir Atiyah and al-Nabk to the southwest and Jayrud to the south. Al-Qaryatayn translates as "the two villages".

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Qaryatayn had a population of 14,208 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Qaryatayn nahiyah ("subdistrict") which consists of three localities with a collective population of 16,795 in 2004.[2] Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims and Syriac Christians.[3]

  1. ^ Thomas A. Carlson et al., “al-Qaryatayn — ܩܪܝܬܝܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified June 30, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/212.
  2. ^ General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Qaryatayn Subdistrict, Central Homs District, Homs Governorate. (in Arabic)
  3. ^ Islamic State 'seizes Syria town of al-Qaryatain' in Homs province. BBC News. 2015-08-06.