Aqrab

Aqrab
عقرب
Akrab
Town
Arab transcription(s)
 • English"The Scorpion"
Aqrab is located in Syria
Aqrab
Aqrab
Location in Syria
Coordinates: 34°56′11″N 36°27′25″E / 34.93639°N 36.45694°E / 34.93639; 36.45694
Country Syria
GovernorateHama
DistrictHama
SubdistrictHirbnafsah
Population
 (2004)
 • Total
8,422

Aqrab (Arabic: عقرب, also spelled Akrab) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located southwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Nisaf and Baarin to the west, Awj to the southwest, Qarmas to the south, Taldou and Houla to the southeast, Talaf and the subdistrict (nahiyah) center Hirbnafsah to the east, Bisin and Jidrin to the northeast and al-Bayyadiyah to the northwest.

According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Aqrab had a population of 8,422 in the 2004 census, making it the largest locality in the Hirbnafsah nahiyah.[1] The population of Aqrab is roughly two-thirds Sunni Muslim, with the remainder being Alawites.[2] Many of Aqrab's Sunni inhabitants are of Turkmen descent,[3] while Alawites live mostly in the enclave of Jbeili where they make up about 200 families.[4]

In a 1958 United Nations report, it was noted that Aqrab had been owned by feudalists.[5][when?]

  1. ^ General Census of Population and Housing 2004 Archived 2013-01-12 at archive.today. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. (in Arabic)
  2. ^ Syria: explosions kill scores in Alawite villages. The Telegraph. 2012-12-11.
  3. ^ Hartmann, 2012, p. 54.
  4. ^ Rosen, Nir. A Tale of Two Syrian Villages: Part two. Al-Jazeera English (AJE). 2011-10-26.
  5. ^ United Nations. Technical Assistance Administration. Technical assistance program: Report. ECA, 1958.