Jisr ash-Shughūr has long been an important stopping point on trade routes. It is situated on the main route between
Latakia, which is to the west, and
Aleppo, which is to the east. Located in the rich alluvial plain of the
Ghab Plain on the eastern side of the
Syrian Coastal Mountain Range, the area has been continuously inhabited for over 10,000 years. The ancient city of
Qarqar is thought to have been situated some south of the modern town, which was established in
Hellenistic times as the city of
Seleucia ad Belum. The
Romans called it
Niaccuba and built a stone bridge there across the Orontes. until they were captured by
Saladin in 1188. (
Voyage au Levant, 1714) Little remains of the ancient city other than portions of the much-repaired
Roman bridge, which is now incorporated into a 15th-century
Mamluk construction that still serves as one of the city's two bridges over the river. The bridge's V-shaped design was intended to enable it to withstand the force of the river's current. Although Jisr ash-Shughūr is mostly of modern construction, a number of old
Ottoman-era buildings still survive, including a
caravanserai built in the centre of the old town between 1660–75 and later restored in 1826–27. The town is referred to in 18th-century European sources as
Choug,
Shogle or
Shoggle (the latter in the
Encyclopédie). During the Ottoman period, the town was often vulnerable to attack from the Kurdish tribes from the
Sahyun district. For much of the 18th century, however, the town itself was controlled by the Kurdish
agha (title) Muhammad ibn Rustum and his sons, first as
kaymakam (deputy governor), then as
mütevelli (manager) of the religious foundation of
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha in Jisr ash-Shughūr. After the end of World War I, Jisr al-Shughur was the site of sustained resistance against the French occupation forces. In December 1920, the local rebel leader
Ibrahim Hananu together with Kurdish bands from the Sahyun and with support of
Kemalist insurgency forces from Turkey managed to seize the town from the French. The city has been described as conservative and predominantly
Sunni Muslim, with a history of unrest against the government of the ruling
Alawite-dominated
secular Arab nationalist Baathist party. It was the scene of
a mass killing by Syrian security forces in 1980 that prefigured the later and more notorious
Hama massacre during the nationwide
Islamist uprising in Syria. On 9 March 1980, against a background of anti-government protests across Syria, inhabitants of Jisr ash-Shughūr marched on the local
Bath headquarters and set it on fire. The police were unable to restore order and fled. Some demonstrators seized weapons and ammunition from a nearby army barracks. Later that day, units of the
Syrian Arab Army Special Forces were helicoptered in from Aleppo to regain control, which they did after pounding the town with rockets and mortars, destroying homes and shops and killing and wounding dozens of people. At least two hundred people were arrested. The following day a military tribunal ordered the execution of more than a hundred of the detainees. In all, about 150–200 people were said to have been killed in a matter of hours. Activists speaking to the BBC denied the government's version of these events, claiming that the cause of these deaths was unclear and may have been an internal mutiny. The city was reported to have been largely abandoned by its inhabitants, many of whom fled to neighbouring
Turkey, as
Syrian Arab Army units massed outside to retake it. Over December 2011–January 2012, the
FSA took control, establishing a key rebel center. As of June 2012, the FSA was still in control, but by October 2012, the Syrian government was reported by
Al Jazeera to be in control of the town. However, on 25 April 2015,
the city was captured by a
military alliance of
Salafist insurgents, including
al-Qaeda's
al-Nusra Front,
Ahrar al-Sham, and the
Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP). The city has become a stronghold of the TIP, and reportedly 3,500 militant
Uyghurs have since settled in the city. By July 2017, the city was under joint control of
Tahrir al-Sham and the
Turkistan Islamic Party. == Demographics ==