There are two
tells in the area; one inside Amuda itself, and the other on the Turkish side of the border, three kilometers north of the city. In older and some modern literature, the tell inside Amuda is named Tell Amuda, but for locals its name is Tell Shermola, while the tell on the Turkish side is the real Tell Amuda, which had its name changed by the Turkish authorities to Tell Kemaliya. Tell Shermola revealed evidence for a limited occupation dating to the third millennium BC. Shermola is identified by
Elisabeth Wagner-Durand and
Jeanne-Marie Aynard with the Assyrian city of Kulishinas (Kulišinaš). This identification is based on tablets written in Kulishinas discovered and sold to museums by a dealer who claimed that they were taken from Shermola; hence, the identification is not certain, although Shermola being a Middle Assyrian city is confirmed by archaeology.
Modern era The demographics of this area saw a huge shift in the early part of the 20th century. Some
Kurdish tribes cooperated with
Ottoman authorities in the genocide against
Armenian and
Assyrian Christians in
Upper Mesopotamia. Kurdish tribes attacked and sacked Assyrian and Armenian villages in Albaq District immediately to the north of
Hakkari mountains, killing large numbers of villagers. Before the genocide in 1915, the Kaza of Ras-ul-ain, which included Amuda, was made up entirely of total 16.000 Sunni Muslims. Some Christians settled the city after the genocide. In 1936,
French forces bombarded Amuda (Tusha Amudi). On 13 August 1937, in a revenge attack, about 500
Kurds from the Dakkuri, Milan, and Kiki tribes attacked the Christians. The Christian population, about 300 families, fled to the towns of
Qamishli and
Hasakah. In 1941, the Assyrian community of
al-Malikiyah was subjected to a vicious assault by Kurds. Even though the assault failed, Assyrians were terrorized and left in large numbers, and the immigration of Kurds from Turkey to the area have resulted in a Kurdish majority in Amuda, al-Malikiyah, and
al-Darbasiyah. There is a park in Amuda that commemorates the event. On 12 March 2004, an anti-government uprising took place in the city. As of 2004, Amuda is the fourth largest town in Al-Hasakah governorate. In July 2017 the 90-year old Mor Elias Church was restored and reopened in the city. As of 2017 only one Assyrian family remains in Amuda.
Civil war With the dawn of the
civil war, the rule of the
Bashar al-Assad government ended in much of Northern Syria.
Free Syrian Army fighters were briefly seen in the town during the July 2012 withdrawal of government troops from the area, but by 21 July 2012 the
YPG established control. The early days of
Democratic Union Party (PYD) influence in Amuda was not without conflict – in June 2013, clashes took place. Opponents of the PYD stated that fighters had opened fire on protesters following tensions with pro-Free Syrian Army youth committees and rivalling Kurdish groups. The PYD on the other hand stated it had been attacked by a mercenary gang. Following the
Rojava Revolution, the first meeting of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the
Jazira Canton was held in Amuda following its 21 January 2014 declaration.
Qamishli was declared as the Canton's
de jure capital, with Amuda acting as such for the time being. The meeting was held at the Hurî Culture and Art Centre, and was attended by the assembly president Ekrem Hiso, his two Arab and Assyrian deputies, and 22 ministers. In July 2014 two new co-mayors were elected for the Canton, by a council gathered in Amuda. Those elected were Hamedi Daham (a sheikh of the Arab
Shammar tribe) and Hadiya Yousif (former head of the
Women's Protection Units, YPJ). In November 2014
Bernard Kouchner, former foreign minister of
France and co-founder of the
Médecins Sans Frontières, visited Amuda and met with local senior officials. Following the
Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone agreement, SDF fighters withdrew from the city, leaving it under the military control of the
Syrian Army until 2024. == Amuda under PYD ==