Al-Bab ( / ALA-LC: al-Bāb) is a Syrian city, administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. Al-Bab is located northeast of Aleppo, south of the Turkish border, and has an area of . Al-Bab has an altitude of . According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), it had a population of 63,069 in 2004.[ The population has surged to about 100,000 during the Syrian Civil War.]
Prior to the Syrian Civil War, al-Bab's inhabitants were composed of a Sunni Muslim Arab majority, and a Kurds minority outside the city center.
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 east of Al-Bāb.
History
During the Roman Empire, Al-Bab was a civitas of the Roman Province of Syria, known as Batnai.[Barrington Atlas, 2000, pl. 67 F4.] The ruins of that settlement lie on the banks of the wadi north of the modern town.[ Batnai (Tell Batnan) Syria (Syria).] Roman Batnai should not be confused with the Ancient Rome town Batnae about northeast.
Al-Bab was conquered by the Rashidun army of the Rashidun Caliphate under caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab in the 7th century. It received its name, meaning "the Gate", during rule as it served as "the gate" between Aleppo and the adjacent town of Bizaah. The tomb and shrine of Aqil ibn Abi Talib (the brother of Ali) was located in al-Bāb.
Until its rule by the in the 13th century, the town was populated mostly by 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).[Le Strange, 1890, p.406.]
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 Aleppo Eyalet until 1866 and the Aleppo Vilayet 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
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.[McElroy, Damien. Syria dispatch: Rebels forced to share guns as Assad's tanks roll in to Aleppo. The Daily Telegraph. 2012-07-26.] 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.[Holliday, Joseph (17 September 2012), Campaign for North Syria, September 2012, Institute for the Study of War][ Al Jazeera speaks to Syria secret police, Al Jazeera, 29 July 2012.][ Rebels claim victory in Syria's al-Bab. Al Jazeera. 2012-07-31.] The city's capture gave the militants full control of the areas northeast of Aleppo.[McCormick, Ty. Morning Brief: Syrian rebels make gains in Aleppo, Al-Bab . Foreign Policy. 2012-07-31.] 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.[ The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham Expands Into Rural Northern Syria Joshualandis.com, 18 July 2013]
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.[[8] "Turkey-backed rebels in 'near full control' of Al Bab", Al Jazeera, 23 January 2017.] becoming a part of the Turkish buffer zone.
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.
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 and the average high temperature in July is . The snow usually falls in December or January.
