Al-Hasakah

al-Hasakah الحسكة Hesîçe
City
al-Hasakah Location of al-Hasakah in Syria
Coordinates: 36°30′42″N 40°44′32″E / 36.5117°N 40.7422°E / 36.5117; 40.7422Coordinates: 36°30′42″N 40°44′32″E / 36.5117°N 40.7422°E / 36.5117; 40.7422
Country	Syria
Governorate	al-Hasakah
District	al-Hasakah
Subdistrict	al-Hasakah
Population (2004)[1]	188,160
• Metro	251,570
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Area code	+963 52
Geocode	C4360

Al-Hasakah (Arabic: الحسكة‎, Kurdish: Hesîçe‎, Syriac: ܚܣܟܗ‎), also known as Al-Hasakeh, is the capital city of the Al-Hasakah Governorate and it is located in the far north-eastern corner of Syria. With a population of 188,160 residents in 2004, Al-Hasakah is among the 10 largest cities in Syria and the largest in the governorate. It is the administrative center of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") consisting of 108 localities with a combined population of 251,570 in 2004.^[1] Al-Hasakah is a predominantly Kurdish city with a mixed population of Kurds and Arabs and in addition to a significant minority of Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians.^[2] The Khabur River runs through Al-Hasakah and the rest of the governorate.

History

Excavations in 2007 on Citadel Hill. The barracks from the French Mandate, battalion Levant is in the background

In the city centre, an ancient tell is identified by Dominique Charpin as the location of the city of Qirdahat.^[3] Another possibility is that it was the sight of the ancient Aramean city of Magarisu, mentioned by the Assyrian king Ashur-bel-kala who fought the Arameans near the city.^[4] The etymology of Magarisu is Aramaic (from the root mgrys) and means "pasture land".^[5] The city was the capital of the Aramean state of Bit-Yahiri invaded by Assyrian kings Tukulti-Ninurta II and Ashurnasirpal II.^[6]

Excavations in the tell discovered materials dating to the Middle-Assyrian, Byzantine and Islamic eras. The last level of occupation ended in the fifteenth century.^[7] A period of 1500 years separated between the Middle-Assyrian level and the Byzantine level.^[8]

In Ottoman times the town was insignificant. Today's settlement was established in April 1922 by a French military post. After the expulsion and genocide of the Armenians in the then Ottoman Empire many refugees fled to the city and began to develop it in the 1920s.

During the French mandate period, Assyrians, fleeing ethnic cleansings in Iraq during the Simele massacre, established numerous villages along the Khabur River during the 1930s. French troops were stationed on the Citadel Hill during that time. In 1942 there were 7,835 inhabitants in al-Hasakah, several schools, two churches and a gas station. The new city grew from the 1950s to the administrative center of the region. The economic boom of the cities of Qamishli and al-Hasakah was a result of the irrigation projects started in the 1960s which transformed Northeast Syria into the main cotton-growing area. The 1970s brought oil production from the oil fields of Qara Shuk and Rumaylan in the extreme northeast.

Syrian Civil War

See also Al-Hasakah offensive (February–March 2015), Al-Hasakah offensive (May 2015), Battle of Al-Hasakah (June–August 2015)

On 26 January 2011, in one of the first events of the uprising,^[9] Hasan Ali Akleh from Al-Hasakah poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire, in the same way Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi had in Tunis on 17 December 2010. According to eyewitnesses, the action was "a protest against the Syrian government".^[10][11] In 2012, Al-Hasakah which has a large Kurdish population, began witnessing protests of several thousand people against the Syrian government, which responded with tanks and fired upon the protesters.^[12] In 2013, PYD controls Kurdish districts and government controls Arab districts. There were also clashes in the city between an Arab insurgent group and the YPG.

Hasakah is currently under mixed control by forces from Kurdish militias and the allied MFS and Sutoro, which control some 75% of the city. The rest is controlled by the Syrian Government, who lost large areas of control of the city to ISIS during the Battle of Hasakah, which were then captured by the YPG.^[13][14][15]

The United Nations estimates that violence has displaced up to 120,000 people.^[16]

Geography

Al-Hasakah is 80 km south of the Turkish border-city of Qamishli. The Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates River flows through the city, downriver from Ras al-Ayn, another Turkish border-town. The Jaghjagh River flows into the Khabur River at Al-Hasakah.

Population

Demographics

In 2004 the city's population was 188,160. The population consists mostly of Arabs and Kurds in addition to a significant number of Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians.

Religion

There are at least nine church buildings in the city, proof of a large number of Christians of various rites. Although by contrast, there are more than forty mosques in the city. If a population ratio was made based on that, the city would be around 80% Muslim and 20% Christian.

The cathedral of the Assumption of Mary is the episcopal see of the non-metropolitan Syriac Catholic Archeparchy of Al Hasakah-Nisibis, which depends directly on the Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch.

Districts

The city of Al-Hasakah is divided into 5 districts, which are Al-Madinah, Al-Aziziyah, Ghuwayran, Al-Nasra and Al-Nashwa. These districts, in turn, are divided into 29 neighborhoods.^[17]

Sports

Bassel al-Assad Stadium

Al-Jazeera SC Hasakah is the largest football club in the city and plays at Bassel al-Assad Stadium.

Gallery

• 

  Saint George Cathedral

• 

  Assyrian church in Al-Hasakah

• 

  Tell Hajjar neighborhood in Al-Hasakah

See also

• Al-Hasakah offensive (May 2015)
• Al-Hasakah offensive (February–March 2015)

References

Al-Hasakah Governorate Capital: Al-Hasakah   Al-Hasakah District Al-Hasakah Abu Hajirat Khuatana Abu Tinah al-Alwa al-Arishah Bir al-Helou Bureij Sharqi Dashishah Gharbiyah al-Fadghami al-Fakkah Markada Ghabshah al-Ghariri al-Haddadiyah al-Hajiyah al-Hawl Al-Kharitah Khatuniyah Markada Markada Sharqiyah Qaber Shamiyah al-Sabaa wa Arbain al-Saadah Safia al-Shaddadeh al-Shaykh Hamad Sumayhan Gharbi Tell Arboush Tell Balouaah Tell Baz Tell Brak Tell Bureij Tell Damshij Tell Fuweidat Jazira Tell Goran Tell Hefyan Tell Hermez Tell Jazira Tell Jedaya Tell Jemaah Tell Kifji Tell Maghas Tell Majdal Tell Makhadah Tell Massas Tell Nasri Tell Ruman Tell Safouk Tell Sakra Tell Shamah Tell Shamiram Tell Tal Tell Talaah Tell Tamer Tell Tawil Tell Tawil Gharbi al-Tweinah Umm Ghargan Umm al-Keif Umm Madfaa   Al-Qamishli District Al-Qamishli Amuda Jimaayah al-Manathirah al-Qahtaniyah al-Tannuriyah Tell Hamis Tell Maaruf Umm al-Fursan   Al-Malikiyah District Al-Malikiyah al-Jawadiyah al-Muabbada Maashuq Sabaa Jafar Suwaydiyah Fawqani al-Tabaqah Tell Adas al-Yaarubiyah   Ras al-Ayn District Ras al-Ayn Abu Rasin al-Darbasiyah al-Lid Dirbasiyah Mabrouka al-Manajir Tell Halaf Tell Sinan Sharqi Umm al-Dibs Dirbasiyah

Cities and towns of Syria Governorate centres Aleppo Damascus Daraa Deir ez-Zor Hama al-Hasakah Homs Idlib Latakia Quneitra Ar-Raqqah Rif Dimashq al-Suwayda Tartus District centres Abu Kamal Afrin Arihah Atarib Ayn al-Arab Azaz al-Bab Baniyas Darayya Dayr Hafir Douma Duraykish Fiq al-Haffah Harem Izra' Jableh Jarabulus Jisr ash-Shugur Maarat al-Numaan al-Malikiyah Manbij Masyaf Mayadin Mhardeh al-Mukharram al-Foqani an-Nabk Palmyra Qamishli Qardaha Qatana Qudsaya al-Qusayr al-Qutayfah Ra's al-'Ayn al-Rastan as-Safira Safita Salamiyah Salkhad al-Sanamayn Shahba ash-Shaykh Badr al-Suqaylabiyah Talkalakh al-Tall Tell Abyad al-Thawrah Yabrud Zabadani Sub-district centres Abu Qilqil Abu al-Thuhur Akhtarin Amuda Arbeen Arima al-Ariqah al-Arishah Armanaz Arwad al-Asharah Assal al-Ward Awj Ayn al-Fijah Ayn Halaqim Ayn Issa Ayn al-Nasr Babbila Banan Barri Sharqi Beit Jinn Binnish Bir al-Helu Bosra Bulbul Busayrah Da'el al-Dana Darat Izza Darkush al-Darbasiyah Deir Atiyah al-Dimas al-Dumayr Furqlus Ghabaghib al-Ghandurah al-Ghariyah al-Ghizlaniyah al-Hader Hadidah al-Hajar al-Aswad al-Hajib Hajin al-Hamidiyah al-Hamraa Harasta Harbnafsah Harran al-Awamid al-Hirak Hish Hisyah al-Hawl Huraytan al-Huwash Ibbin Samaan Ihsim Jayrud al-Jalaa al-Janudiyah Jaramana al-Jarniyah Jasim al-Jawadiyah Jubb al-Jarrah Jubb Ramlah Jindires al-Jiza al-Qabu Kafr Batna Kafr Nabl Kafr Takharim Kafr Zita al-Karamah al-Kasrah Kessab al-Khafsah Khan Shaykhun Khasham Kirnaz Kuwayris Sharqi Khanaser Khirbet Ghazaleh Khirbet al-Tin Mahmoud al-Kiswah Ma'arrat Misrin Maabatli Maadan Ma'loula Madaya Mahin Malah al-Malihah al-Mansurah Mare' Markadah Mashta al-Helu Maskanah al-Masmiyah al-Mazraa Muhambal Muhasan al-Musayfirah al-Mushannaf Muzayrib al-Nashabiyah al-Nasirah Nawa Nubl al-Qadmus al-Qahtaniyah Qalaat al-Madiq Qarah al-Qaryatayn al-Qurayya Qurqania Rajo Rankus Rasm Harmil al-Imam al-Rayi al-Riqama al-Ruhaybah al-Saan Saasaa Sabburah al-Sabe' Biyar al-Sabkhah Sadad Sahnaya Saidnaya Salqin Saraqib Sarmin Sarrin Sawran Sebei al-Shaddadah al-Shajara Shaqqa Sharran Shathah Shaykh al-Hadid al-Shaykh Maskin Shayukh Tahtani Shin Sinjar Sirghaya Slinfah Suluk al-Sur al-Surah al-Saghirah Suran al-Susah al-Sukhnah al-Tabni Talbiseh Taldou al-Tamanah Tasil Tell al-Daman Tell Hamis Tell Rifaat Tell Salhab Tell Tamer Tedef Thiban Uqayribat Urum al-Kubra Wadi al-Oyun al-Yaarubiyah al-Zurbah az-Ziyarah