Diban

This article is about a town and archaeological site in Syria. For the town and archaeological site in Jordan, see Dhiban, Jordan.
Diban
ذِيبَان
Town
Diban is located in Syria
Diban
Diban
Coordinates: 35°00′56″N 40°30′37″E / 35.01556°N 40.51028°E / 35.01556; 40.51028
Country Syria
GovernorateDeir ez-Zor
DistrictMayadin
SubdistrictDiban
ControlLocal tribes
Population
 (2004 census)[1]
 • Total
9,000
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Diban (Arabic: ذِيبَان, romanized: Ḏībān, also spelled Thiban or Zeiban) is a town in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, located along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, south of Deir ez-Zor, 17 kilometers south of al-Busayrah and 13 kilometers north of Al-Asharah.[2] Nearby localities include Al Mayadin to the north and west, al-Hawayij to the northeast, Mahkan to the south west and al-Tayanah to the southeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Diban had a population of 9,000 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative seat of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") which consists of ten localities with a total population of 65,079 in 2004.[1]

Diban is the administrative center of Nahiyat Diban of Mayadin District.

Part of Diban is situated on a hill called Tell Diban, which is also an archaeological site. Tell Diban is identified with the ancient Aramean city of Rummunina,[2][3] a probable derivation of the Aramaic word rumman ("pomegranate").[2] The area and its surrounding fields served as a pre-war camp for Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta II's army during his last military campaign in 885 BCE. The king reported that Rummunina was situated along a canal of the Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates.[3] According to Belgian orientalist Edward Lipinsky, Tell Diban was "certainly occupied during the Iron Age."[2]

During the Syrian Revolution, Diban was captured from the Syrian government by the Free Syrian Army but then occupied by ISIL until the Syrian Democratic Forces captured the town on 18 November 2017 with massive support of the US-led coalition.[4]

On 25 September 2023, 18 local gunmen, three SDF members and a civilian were killed in clashes in the town.[5] The same day, tribal fighters seized the town.[6] On 7 August 2024, additional clashes occurred in the settlement between local tribes and the YPG.[7]

  1. ^ a b General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Deir az-Zawr Governorate. (in Arabic)
  2. ^ a b c d Lipinsky, pp. 84-85.
  3. ^ a b Bryce, 2009, p. 598.
  4. ^ "SDF fighters captured Diban village and destroyed an IS car bomb Deir Ez-Zor Governorate". Today news from war on Daesh, ISIS in English from Somalia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria - isis.liveuamap.com.
  5. ^ "Daily death toll | 31 persons killed on September 25 across Syria". SOHR. 25 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Salafi-Jihadi Movement Update, September 29, 2023". 27 September 2023.
  7. ^ Agencies, Daily Sabah with (2024-08-07). "Arab tribes, PKK terrorists renew clashes in Syria's east". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2024-08-08.