Al-Dirbasiyah

Al-Dirbasiyah (Arabic: ٱلدَّرْبَاسِيَّة, romanized: ad-Dirbāsīyah, Kurdish: دربێسی, romanized: Dirbêsiyê) is a Syrian town on the Syria–Turkey border opposite the Turkish town of Şenyurt. Administratively it is part of the Al-Hasakah Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Dirbasiyah had a population of 8,551 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") consisting of 113 localities with a combined population of 55,614 in 2004.^[1] The majority of the inhabitants of the town are Arabs and Kurds and a smaller Assyrian minority.^[2]

Al-Dirbasiyah Arabic: ٱلدَّرْبَاسِيَّة Kurdish: دربێسی, romanized: Dirbêsiyê
Town
Al-Dirbasiyah Location in Syria
Coordinates: 37°4′22″N 40°39′7″E
Country	Syria
Governorate	al-Hasakah
District	Ras al-Ayn
Subdistrict	al-Darbasiyah
Control	Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
Elevation	300 m (1,000 ft)
Population  (2004 census)[1]
• Total	8,551
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	+3
Area code	52

It is connected by road to Tell Beydar in the south.

Etymology

The town of Dirbasiyah is named after St Osyo the Wise, the Saint patron of the city, with "Dirbasiyah" being the Arabized version of the Syriac name, meaning "The path (Darbo) of Osyo (Asiyah)".^[3] A church is dedicated to this saint in this city.

Civil war

On 22 July 2012, during the Syrian Civil War, Kurdish-led YPG forces took control over the town, after Syrian government forces, following an ultimatum issued by the YPG, withdrew from it. The town was thus brought into the AANES.^[4][5] The Syrian Army entered the town in October 2019, as part of the Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone Agreement.^[6]

On 16 July 2020, an unknown UAV suspected to be Turkish carried out a strike against a Russian coordination point south of al-Dirbasiyah.^[7] Two Russian soldiers, one SAA member and two members of the Asayish were injured in the strike.^[8]

Noteable people

• Ferhad Şamî, Kurdish military leader