of the
as-Safira District. The town is mentioned by
Pliny the Elder as "Chenneseri"; the etymology of Khanasir does not exist in Aramaic, and an Arabic etymology is unlikely (an implausible one being "Khinsar" which mean "the little finger"). An Akkadian etymology is also possible, with the name deriving from the word "Hunsiru", a variant of the word "Humsiru" meaning a rat or a mouse. During the
Byzantine era, the town was known as Anasartha, enclosed within
ramparts in western Syria;
Malalas records that it was a
kastron (fortified hilltop settlement) that was designated a
polis by the Byzantine emperor
Justinian I. Its
bishop Maras took part in the
Council of Chalcedon in 451, and his successor Cyrus was a signatory of the letter that the bishops of the province sent in 458 to the
Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian to protest about the killing of
Proterius of Alexandria. Another bishop built a "refuge" in neighbouring Buz al-Khanzir in 506-507. No longer a residential bishopric, Anasartha is today listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see. Khanasir, known to the early Arabs as "Khunasira", became a fortified estate and frequent residence of the
Umayyad caliph
Umar II (). He died and was buried there.
Modern era At the turn of the 20th century,
Circassian immigrants from
Manbij, northeast of
Aleppo, settled in Khanasir, using old building materials from the site to reestablish the town. On 23 February 2016, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the
Islamic State had captured the town which is located along a major road and supply route to the city of
Aleppo. Two days later, the
Syrian Arab Army, backed by
Russian airstrikes and
Hezbollah fighters, managed to recapture the town back from Islamic State militants. ==Archaeology==