Jabal al-Akrad explained

Jabal al-Akrad
Elevation M:	400 - 1000
Location:	Latakia, Idlib, Syria
Map:	Syria
Map Relief:	yes
Coordinates:	35.65°N 48°W

Jabal al-Akrad (Arabic: جبل الأكراد Jabal al-Akrād, Mountain of the Kurds) is a rural mountainous region with an elevation that ranges from 400 to 1,000 meters above sea level, in northwestern Syria along the Coastal Mountain Range. It is located in the northeastern Latakia Governorate, near the borders with Idlib Governorate and Turkey. Jabal al-Akrad should not be confused with the neighboring Kurd Mountain, which is located further northeast.

Jabal al-Akrad is rich in forests and natural resources. As a result of the Syrian civil war the region has seen numerous military clashes between the armed opposition groups and the Syrian army. The Syrian Army recaptured the mountainous region in February 2016 in the 2015–2016 Latakia offensive.

Demographics

19th-century German traveler Martin Hartmann noted that some Sunni Muslim residents in the Ottoman nahiyah of Jabal al-Akrad claimed descent from Kurds who were forced to settle in the region 300 years ago but no longer spoke Kurdish.^[1]

Notes and References

Hartmann . Martin . Das Liwa el-Ladkije und die Nahije Urdu (Schluss.) . Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins . 1891 . 14 . JSTOR . 214 . 27928611 . 4 December 2022 . dagegen wurden als zu ga gehörig noch die 6 Ortschaften 143-148 genannt[...] Die in ga wohnenden Muslims betrachten sich als Nachkommen von Kurden, die vor ca. 300 Jahren hier eingewandert sein sollen. Die kurdische Sprache ist jedoch keinem von ihnen mehr bekannt..