This article is about the town in the Idlib Governorate. For the town in the Aleppo Governorate, see
Nubl.
Town in Idlib, Syria
Kafr Nabl (Arabic: كَفْرنَبِل, romanized: Kafr Nabil, also spelled Kafranbel or Kafr Nabil) is a town administratively belonging to the Idlib Governorate and Ma'arrat al-Numan District in northwestern Syria. It is situated 735 meters (2,411 ft) above sea level. In the 2004 census by the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics Kafr Nabl had a population of 15,455.[1] In the early 1960s it had a population of about 1,200. Kafr Nabl's inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslim.[2]
History
Kafr Nabl is located on an ancient Byzantine dead city, and is surrounded by some of the most important Dead Cities, such as Serjilla, Shanshrah, and al-Bara.[3]
Prior to the Syrian civil war, Kafr Nabl was Syria's largest producer of figs and a major producer of olives. About 3,700 hectares, or 778,000 trees were used for fig cultivation. Roughly 60% of the population were employed in the production and natural processing of the fruit. Farmers in Kafr Nabl usually dedicated around 80% of their cultivation time to the production of figs and 20% for olives.[4]
Since the civil war, the town has gained fame for producing satirical videos about the war.[5] It belonged to an area controlled by the Army of Conquest.[citation needed]
Planes of the Russian Air Force, based in Latakia, had begun to attack the city in the autumn of 2015.[6][7]
On November 23, 2018, activist Raed Fares and journalist Hamoud Junaid were killed in Kafr Nabl, by an unknown gunman.[8]
Most of the town's remaining inhabitants fled in early 2019, due to the violence that erupted during the 2019 Northwestern Syria offensive.[9] Shortly thereafter, the rebel groups in control of the town received a "stark warning" from Russia, which accused them of using it to stage alleged false-flag chemical attacks against the Syrian government, as well as a launching ground for missiles targeting government-controlled areas in violation of the Idlib demilitarization agreement.[10] On 21 July 2019, the local council of the rebel-held town declared that "everything [in the town] had been destroyed and burnt" as a result of clashes and government airstrikes targeting rebel positions within it.[11]
On February 25, 2020, the Syrian Army reimposed control on Kafr Nabl for the first time since 2012 during the 2019–20 Northwestern Syria offensive and repulsed rebel attempts to re-take it during their counterattack.[12][13]
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