Latakia

Latakia; Lattakia or Latakiyah (Arabic: اللَاذِقِيَّة‎ al-Lādhiqīyah  Syrian pronunciation: [el.laːdˈʔɪjje, -laːðˈqɪjja]), is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea or Laodicea ad Mare. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages. According to the 2004 official census, the population of the city is 383,786. It is the 5th-largest city in Syria after Aleppo, Damascus, Homs and Hama, and it borders Tartus to the south, Hama to the east, and Idlib to the north.

Although the site has been inhabited since the 2nd millennium BCE, the modern-day city was first founded in the 4th century BCE under the rule of the Seleucid empire. Latakia was subsequently ruled by the Romans, then the Ummayads and Abbasids in the 8th–10th centuries CE. Under their rule, the Byzantines frequently attacked the city, periodically recapturing it before losing it again to the Arabs, particularly the Fatimids. Afterward, Latakia was ruled successively by the Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, and Ottomans. Following World War I, Latakia was assigned to the French mandate of Syria, in which it served as the capital of the autonomous territory of the Alawites. This autonomous territory became the Alawite State in 1922, proclaiming its independence a number of times until reintegrating into Syria in 1944.

Mare'

Mare' (Arabic: مارع‎, also spelled Marea) is a town 25 kilometers north of Aleppo in northern Syria. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of the Mare' nahiyah in the Azaz District of the Aleppo Governorate. Nearby localities include Shaykh Issa and Tell Rifaat to the west, A'zaz to the northwest, Dabiq to the northeast, al-Bab to the southeast, and Maarat Umm Hawsh and Herbel to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 16,904 in the 2004 census, out of a total population in the Mare' nahiyah of 39,306.

Syrian Civil War

Mare' has been affected by the ongoing Syrian uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad. The Ibn Walid brigade of the opposition Free Syrian Army was formed in the town in August 2012.

As of January 2015, Mare' is controlled by the Islamic Front.

The Mare' Operations Room is based around the town.

References

Mare

A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.

In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old, but the word can also be used for other female equine animals, particularly mules and zebras, though a female donkey is usually called a "jenny." A broodmare is a mare used for breeding. A horse's female parent is known as its dam.

An uncastrated adult male horse is called a stallion and a castrated male is a gelding. Occasionally the term "horse" is used in a restrictive sense to designate only a male horse.

Reproductive cycle

Mares carry their young (called foals) for approximately 11 months from conception to birth. (Average range 320–370 days.) Usually just one young is born; twins are rare. When a domesticated mare foals, she nurses the foal for at least four to six months before it is weaned, though mares in the wild may allow a foal to nurse for up to a year.

Mareš

Mareš (feminine Marešová) is a Czech surname. Notable people with the surname include: