Al-Zahraa
Al-Zahraa (Arabic: الزهراء) is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the A'zaz District of Aleppo Governorate, located northwest of Aleppo. Nearby localities include Tell Rifaat and Mayer to the northeast and Anadan to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Zahraa had a population of 13,780 in the 2004 census.[1] Al-Zahraa has a predominantly Shia Muslim population and, along with nearby Nubl, forms a small Shia-inhabited pocket in a mostly Sunni Muslim area in the Aleppo Governorate.
Syrian civil war
Since July 2012, Al-Zahraa and Nubl have been under siege by the anti-government Free Syrian Army (FSA). Although relations between the inhabitants of al-Zahraa and the surrounding villages were normally friendly, during the ongoing Syrian civil war, anti-government supporters from nearby Sunni villages have claimed that al-Zahraa and Nubl hosted pro-government militias that have launched attacks against opposition supporters.[2][3] After months of rebel siege and continuous reciprocal kidnappings, popular committees in the two towns agreed to begin negotiations with Sunni rebels on 27 March 2013. The agreement to negotiate was organised by Kurdish parties from the neighbouring Kurd Dagh region, which is controlled by Kurdish separatists of the PYD. The talks were to be brokered by Kurds, and several kidnapped individuals had been freed on both sides.[4]
On 3 February 2016, an offensive by the Syrian Arab Army and Hezbollah ended the siege.[5][6]
References
Syria
