As-Safira ( / ALA-LC: as-Safīrah; Aleppo dialect: Sfīre) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. It is the administrative center of the as-Safira District. As Safīrah has an altitude of , and a population of 106,382 , making it the 11th largest city per geographical entity in Syria.
Name
Medieval geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi spells the name Asfīrahle Strange, 1890, p. 400 (), not as-Safira (), which indicates that the definite article in the modern spelling is a result of hypercorrection.
As-Safira was known in pre-Islamic times as Sipri.Ball, Warwick (2006) "The desert edges" Syria: A Historical And Architectural Guide Interlink Publishing Group, Northampton, Massachusetts, page 157, HistoriansNotably Dossin and Lewy, see Sasson, Jack M. (1966) "A Sketch of North Syrian Economic Relations in the Middle Bronze Age" Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 9(3): pp. 161–181, page 169, note 2 have suggested that the name Sipri may have come from the Akkadian word siparru meaning "bronze", which might indicate that copper was mined and bronze was worked there.
History Since ancient times the city has been the distribution point for salt gathered from the nearby Sabkhat al-Jabbul.
Archeological findings
The Sfire I Treaty which may contain 8th century BCE evidence of a deity called "Most High."
Syrian civil war In the 2024 Operation Dawn of Freedom, it was captured by the Syrian National Army.
Geography Climate As-Safira has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk).
Notes
Bibliography