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Jableh (; , also spelt Jebleh, Jabala, Jablah, Gabala or Gibellum) is a Mediterranean coastal city in Syria, north of Baniyas and south of Latakia, with c. 80,000 inhabitants (2004 census). As Ancient Gabala, it was a Byzantine archbishopric and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. It contains the tomb and mosque of Ibrahim Bin Adham, a legendary Sufi mystic who renounced his throne of Balkh and devoted himself to prayers for the rest of his life.Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Battuta (1996). 9788120608092, Asian Educational Services. . ISBN 9788120608092
The Jableh region was incorporated into the Islamic Empire with the conquest of Syria in 637–642. Between approximately 969 and 1081, however, much of the region returned under the control of the Byzantine Empire, until it was captured by Banu Ammar. The Alawites began spreading in the area in the early eleventh century.
In the medieval period, Jableh, then called Gibellum, was conquered by Tancred and the Genoese on 23 July 1109, to be part of the Principality of Antioch, one of the Crusader States. In 1126, the cities of Latakia and Jabala were the dowry of Princess Alice, daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. It was captured by Saladin in 1189 during the Third Crusade. One famous resident was Hugh of Jabala, the city's bishop, who reported the fall of Edessa to Pope Eugene III and was the first person to speak of Prester John. Less than from the city center lies the ancient site of Gibala, today known as Tell Tweini. This city was inhabited from the third millennium BCE until the Persian period.
During the Mamluk Sultanate, there was still an "Ayyubid" mosque in the city that had probably been founded by members of Saladin's entourage or army. In 1318, a revolt by the Alawites from the surrounding highlands resulted in an attack on Jableh before a Mamluk column sent from Tripoli was able to retake control. The famous Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta visited Jableh in 1326.
In the Ottoman Syria (1516–1918), Jabala originally formed a sub-province (sancak) of the Tripoli Sanjak before it was made its own sancak in 1547–1548. The district (nahiye) of Jabala comprised approximately 80 villages in addition to Jableh itself, the majority of which were inhabited by Alawites. In 1564, the province of Jableh was governed by the son of Janbulad ibn Qasim al-Kurdi, the sancak-beyi of Kilis. The city of Jableh gained special importance with the Ottoman Empire conquest of Cyprus, which lies just 120 km directly offshore, in 1570. The governor and the qadi (judge) of Jableh received numerous orders from the Ottoman government to guard the area against Mediterranean pirates and rebel Alawites in the next decades. The city and the province of Jableh became less important as Latakia rose in importance in the eighteenth century. At the end of the nineteenth century, the province of Jableh was divided into twenty new nahiyes.
On May 23, 2016, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for four suicide bombings in Jableh, which had remained largely unaffected since the Syrian Civil War began in 2011. Purportedly targeting Alawite gatherings, the bombs killed over a hundred people. In Tartus, similarly insulated, another three bombers killed 48 people.
In February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and western Syria. It caused widespread destruction and fatalities. In Jableh, at least 283 people died, 173 were injured and 19 buildings collapsed.
On 8 December 2024, the Syrian opposition took control of Jableh.
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