Kafr Shams
|
Kafr Shams كفر شمس |
|
|---|---|
| Village | |
 Kafr Shams
|
|
| Coordinates: 33°7′N 36°7′E / 33.117°N 36.117°E | |
| Grid position | 253/280 PAL |
| Country |
 Syria
|
| Governorate | Daraa Governorate |
| District | Al-Sanamayn District |
| Nahiyah | Al-Sanamayn |
| Occupation |
.svg){kind=small} Southern Front
|
| Elevation | 800 m (2,600 ft) |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Total | more than 20,000 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Kafr Shams (Arabic: كفر شمس, also spelled Kfar Shams or Kafr ash-Shams) is a small city in southern Syria administratively belonging to the Al-Sanamayn District of the Daraa Governorate. It is 16 kilometers (9.9 mi) northwest of al-Sanamayn, just east of the Golan Heights and situated between Damascus and Daraa. In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics Kafr Shams had a population of 12,435.
Kafr Shams experienced a construction boom during Byzantine Empire rule, particularly during the reign of Justinian I, mostly focused on large rural housing. The town was dominated by the Ghassanids, an Arab Christian vassal kingdom of the Byzantines. The Ghassanids built a major Monophysite monastery there around 570 CE.
In the 1870s Gottlieb Schumacher reported Kafr Shams had a population of 600 Muslims living in 120 to 130 huts. Ancient ruins and subterranean arches were noted in the village and the two Ghassanid monasteries were still largely intact.
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War Kafr Shams was the scene of clashes between the Israeli Army and the joint forces of the Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian armies.
Many of the residents of Kafr Shams have participated in protests against the Syrian government as part of the 2011-2012 Syrian uprising.
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Wikipedia