Abu Kamal
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Abu Kamal البوكمال |
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The entrance to Al Bukamal from the town of Al-Salihiyah
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 Abu Kamal
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| Coordinates: 34°27′13″N 40°56′12″E / 34.45361°N 40.93667°ECoordinates: 34°27′13″N 40°56′12″E / 34.45361°N 40.93667°E | |
| Country |
 Syria
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| Governorate | Deir ez-Zor |
| District | Abu Kamal |
| Occupation |
 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
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| Elevation | 175 m (574 ft) |
| Population (2004 census) | |
| • Total | 42,510 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 (UTC) |
Abu Kamal or Al-Bukamal (Arabic: البوكمال) is a city on the Euphrates river in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate of eastern Syria near the border with Iraq. It is the administrative centre of the Abu Kamal District and the local subdistrict (Abu Kamal Subdistrict). Just to the south-east is the Al-Qa'im border crossing to the town of Husaybah in the Al-Qa'im District of Iraq's Al Anbar Governorate.
During the Ottoman time, Abu Kamal was called kışla, pronounced locally as "qashla", which is a Turkish word for "military barracks". This name "Qashla" is still used by some inhabitants of the area, especially by elderly villagers. The name "Al-Bukamal" (Arabic: البوكمال) means "the family of Kamal", Kamal being the tribe that lives there, whereas the name "Abu Kamal" means "the father of Kamal".
In the 17th century, Abu Kamal was the seat of an Ottoman sanjak in the Eyalet of Ar Ruha, modern Şanlıurfa. It was a kaza (subdistrict) center within Zor Mutasarrıflığı (District of Zor) until the end of Ottoman rule in 1918. In 1896, the old mud village was relocated a mile upstream because it was in danger of being ruined by flooding. The new village was built from stone and had wide streets. The village and its subdistrict formed the center of the Arab Uqaydat tribe and was largely Sunni Muslim, with the exception of a small Christian community from Deir ez-Zor and Mosul. At the beginning of the 20th century, it contained eighty houses, the residence of the kaymakam (kaza governor), a police station, a ferry, and had a population of about 500. The kaza of Abu Kamal in 1890 a population of 15,000.
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