Official Name: | Zira'a |
Other Name: | Zerraa |
Native Name: | زراعة |
Pushpin Map: | Syria |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Mapsize: | 250 |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Syria |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type1: | Governorate |
Subdivision Name1: | Homs |
Subdivision Type2: | District |
Subdivision Name2: | Al-Qusayr |
Subdivision Type3: | Subdistrict |
Subdivision Name3: | Al-Qusayr |
Settlement Type: | Village |
Population As Of: | 2004 |
Population Total: | 2,250 |
Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
Timezone: | EET |
Utc Offset: | +3 |
Timezone Dst: | EEST |
Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
Coordinates: | 34.4564°N 36.5769°W |
Zira'a (Arabic: زراعة, also spelled Zerraa, Zirhagh or Zar'a) is a village in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Situated on a hill just east of the Orontes River, nearby localities include Rableh to the immediate southwest, al-Qusayr to the north, Jandar to the northeast and Hisyah to the southeast. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Zira'a had a population of 2,250 in the 2004 census.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.[2]
The ancient site of Riblah was located on the site of the village and not in nearby Rableh after which it was named. Between the 7th and 9th centuries BCE Riblah served as the principal military and administrative center of the Assyrians in Syria.[3] Although a small place today, in the early 19th-century during Late Ottoman Empire rule, Zira'a was described as a village larger than al-Qusayr, which is now a city. It possessed an abundance of cultivated fields and trees.[4]