Suluk, Syria
Suluk
سلوك | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Suluk nahiya within Raqqa Governorate | |
  Suluk Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates: 36°35′57″N 39°07′43″E / 36.5992°N 39.1286°E | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Raqqa |
| District | Tell Abyad |
| Subdistrict | Suluk |
| Control |  Turkey Syrian Interim Government |
| Population (2004) | |
| • Town | 7,825[1] |
| • Subdistrict | 44,131[1] |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| P-Code | C5843 |
| Geocode | SY110201 |
| City Qrya Pcode | C5843 |
Suluk (Arabic: سلوك, romanized: Sulūk) is a town within the Tell Abyad District of Raqqa Governorate in Syria. Suluk is close to the border with Turkey. The population of the town is predominantly Arab.[2][3]
History
In the early 13th century, during Ayyubid rule, the medieval geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi noted that Suluk was "a town of Syria".[4]
Syrian civil war
In June 2015, Suluk was taken over by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the course of their Tell Abyad offensive.[5] Kurdish YPG forces were accused of expelling the entire population of the town (35,000 people), although they allowed only 10,000 of them to return,[2] Furthermore, Amnesty International accused YPG of "razing" nearby villages,[6] and "ethnic cleansing" of Arabs.[3] They have denied the Amnesty report, calling it "biased, unprofessional and politicized" as it made no mention of the human rights violations by the Islamic State.[7]
On 27 February 2016, fighters of the Islamic State attacked Suluk, the village Hammam at‑Turkuman and Tall Abyad.[8] At this point, the towns were not directly at the front to ISIL-held territory anymore and the jihadists were able to expel the Kurdish People's Protection Units in this surprise attack from Suluk and Hammam at-Turkuman. Kurdish security forces soon were able to encircle the attackers and recaptured the villages on March 3, 2016.[9] One day before the recapture, IS jihadists executed 15 civilians with the charge of "Refusing to corporate with IS and helping the YPG earlier".[10]
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 70 fighters from the Islamic State and 20 Kurdish fighters were killed during the clashes.[11]
A spokesman of the YPG, Redur Xelil, accused Turkey of supporting the terrorists because some of them infiltrated from the Turkish border to the north. Turkey denied the accusations.[9]
During the Turkish offensive in north-east Syria in October 2019,[12] Suluk was captured by Turkey and the Syrian National Army.[13]
Climate
| Climate data for Suluk | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 10.7 (51.3) |
13.1 (55.6) |
17.7 (63.9) |
23.4 (74.1) |
29.9 (85.8) |
35.7 (96.3) |
39.2 (102.6) |
38.8 (101.8) |
34.6 (94.3) |
27.7 (81.9) |
19.5 (67.1) |
12.5 (54.5) |
25.2 (77.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.2 (34.2) |
2.2 (36.0) |
5.1 (41.2) |
9.1 (48.4) |
13.8 (56.8) |
18.3 (64.9) |
21.1 (70.0) |
20.6 (69.1) |
16.1 (61.0) |
11.1 (52.0) |
5.7 (42.3) |
2.6 (36.7) |
10.6 (51.1) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 60 (2.4) |
46 (1.8) |
44 (1.7) |
35 (1.4) |
25 (1.0) |
3 (0.1) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
1 (0.0) |
17 (0.7) |
31 (1.2) |
52 (2.0) |
314 (12.3) |
| Source: Climate-Data[14] | |||||||||||||
References
- ^ a b "2004 Census Data for Suluk nahiyah" (in Arabic). Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015. Also available in English: "2004 Census Data". UN OCHA. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
- ^ a b Gutmanrgutman, Roy (2015-11-01). "Kurds setting up to rule in Syrian town Islamic State held". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
- ^ a b "Arab tribes in Raqqa vow to fight Kurdish forces if they enter the ISIS de facto capital". ARA News. 2015-12-16. Archived from the original on December 17, 2015. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
- ^ Strange, le, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 530.
- ^ Lefteris Pitarakis; Bassem Mrque (June 14, 2015). "Thousands of Syrians flee into Turkey amid intense fighting". AP The Big Story. Associated Press. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
- ^ "Syria: US ally's razing of villages amounts to war crimes". Amnesty International. 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
- ^ Saeed, Yerevan (19 October 2015). "YPG dismisses Amnesty report accusing Kurds of ethnic cleansing". Rudaw Media Network.
- ^ "Tall Abyad: IS captures Suluk and Hammam at Turkuman". Kurdwatch.org. March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ^ a b Maryam Karouny; Seyhmus Cakan (February 27, 2016). "Islamic State attacks Kurdish-held town on Turkish border". Reuters. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ^ "IS executes 19 at least, in the town of Hamam al-Turkman south of Tal Abiad". Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. March 2, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ^ "By "Caliphate Cubs and the costume of Self-Defense", "Islamic State" carry out Tal Abyad military operations". Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. February 29, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ^ "U.S., Turkey agree to cease-fire to allow Kurdish forces to retreat". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
- ^ "Eight dead in blast in Turkish-held Syrian town". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
- ^ "Climate statistics for Suluk". Climate Data. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
