جولة ٨ : حلب - ادلب - أريحا - جسر الشغور . كتاب في ربوع سورية

Tour: Aleppo - Idlib - Jericho - Jisr Al-Shughour

Our tour will take place on the Aleppo-Latakia road, and we will stop at some sites in Jabal Al-Zawiya and the Roj Depression. It is possible to take two roads to reach the beautiful town of Jericho, so that the two roads unite together to the west towards Jisr al-Shughour. The first way; It is the road that unites at its beginning with the Aleppo-Bab Al-Hawa road, and from the town of Urem Al-Sughra, a road branches off from it towards the southwest to Idlib and then to Jericho. We pass between Urum al-Sughra and Idlib, a flat area with little ramifications, with red soil planted with wheat, barley, lentils, and several types of fruit trees, mainly pistachios and olives. We pass through a number of urban communities, including: Arnaz (21 km from Aleppo) and Kafr Aleppo
(27 km), Mirnaz (30 km), Maarat al-Khasiki (31 km), and Taftanaz (34 km). The large town has an estimated population of about 5,000 people and is now the center of the district. After Taftanaz, we pass through two villages, Ta’oum (38 km), and then Nabbesh (the center of Nahiyah), which is about 42 km from Aleppo and about 7 km from Idlib, and its population is about 6,000 people.

From and Idlib has been the center of a governorate since 1960, and before that it was the center of a region belonging to Aleppo, about 450 meters above sea level. It was not famous in ancient and medieval history, as it was a small village belonging to Sarmin, and it did not rise and develop except from the beginning. In the middle of the seventeenth century, when it was bought from the Ottoman Empire by one of the wealthy and influential (Muhammad Pasha Al-Kuberli) and made it an endowment for the Two Holy Mosques, and built buildings in it whose features remain until now, and it became an area of ​​attraction for residents from the neighboring villages to become a district center (region) belonging to Aleppo in 1812. The city center represents the old part of it, which extends between Othman Bin Affan Street in the east, Al-Bustan Street in the west, and between Al-Hijaz Street in the north and Hanano Square in the south, in which the commercial markets and old neighborhoods are concentrated. The city and the central winding street that connects its four main squares (Hanano, Al-Thawra, Al-Hurriyah Al-Mutanabbi), and the modern building extends outside that street in different directions, surrounding it from all sides, especially the eastern, western and southwestern sides - Figure (24) -. The estimated population of the city is currently: 75 thousand people. by about

While we are in Idlib, we must stop by the town of Sarmin, which was important in the region in ancient and medieval times, and Idlib belonged to it. Abu al-Fida mentioned it: Sarmin is one of the works of Aleppo, a town with many trees.

It has an extensive mandate and work. Markets and a congregational mosque, and it has no wall.” It was also mentioned by Ibn Battuta in his journey, as well as Ibn al-Shehna, where he said about it: “Sardeen had a wall, was covered, and many mosques populated with carved stone were destroyed, and only the mosque remained, and most of its people are Ismailis, and they have a da’wah house in it, and they were still until their hand was removed by al-Malik al-Zahir in the year 765 AH . Many of its ruins still indicate the antiquity of its history, and it is located in the middle of the road between Idlib and Saraqib (southeast of Idlib, about (km).

And as soon as we pass the city of Idlib, heading south to Jericho, the land begins to gradually rise, and we enter within the fronts of Jabal Al-Zawiya North, and we pass through the two villages of Al-Mastouma and Al-Muqbela, which have been inhabited since ancient times. And Ariha (Riha, as you know, located at an altitude of 450 meters above sea level, is only 13 km away from Idlib, and it is one of the most beautiful urban human settlements in the Idlib governorate. It is located on the northern slope of Jabal Al-Arba’een branching from Jabal Al-Zawiya. It has a mild climate in summer and clean air. It is surrounded from every direction by orchards of fruit trees From cherries, pears, apples, figs, grapes, almonds and walnuts, and therefore it is one of the beautiful summer places that have not yet been considered.

As for the other road that we can take, heading to Jisr al-Shughour and Latakia, it is a road branching from the Aleppo-Damascus road at km 47, and heading west to Ariha, passing through the town of Saraqib, which is the center of a district, with an estimated population of about 16,000 people. And in the middle of the road between Saraqib and Ariha is located Neirab town.

To the west of Jericho, about 4 km, is the village of Orm al-Joz, in a wide valley