Al-Janudiyah


Al-Janudiyah is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate, located northwest of Idlib along the western banks on the Orontes River in Zawiya Mountain. Nearby localities include Shughur Fawqani to the southwest, Jisr al-Shughur 10 kilometers to the south, Bishlamun to the southeast, Kafr Dibbin to the northeast, Yacoubiyah and al-Qunaya to the north, and Maland to the northwest.
According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Janudiyah had a population of 5,295 in the 2004 census. The town is also the administrative center of the Al-Janudiyah nahiyah which consists of 13 localities with a combined population of 19,642. The town's inhabitants are predominantly Arab Sunni Msulims.
Al-Janudiya contains ancient pottery resembling that of the Amuq region. The geology of the site is marked by soft marl and limestone.

Syrian civil war

During a Syrian Army operation against opposition rebels in Jisr al-Shughur, on 15 June 2011, al-Janudiyah was surrounded by Syrian troops. On 5 September, after clashing with army deserters fleeing towards the nearby border with Turkey, armor-backed Syrian troops entered al-Janudiyah, according to witnesses. Later, on 15 September, a boy was reportedly killed by security forces during an anti-government demonstration in the town, according to opposition activists.
On 4 February 2012 one rebel was killed and four injured in al-Janudiyah during clashes with Syrian security forces. Further clashes in the town on 11 March left three Syrian Army soldiers and one civilian dead according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On 1 April a Syrian Army convoy was assaulted by defectors resulting in the deaths of four soldiers and the injuring of eleven others.
In the first days of February 2013, rebels captured al-Janudiyah and nearby Yakubiyah.