Quneitra Governorate

Quneitra Governorate

مُحافظة القنيطرة
Quneitra Governorate مُحافظة القنيطرة
Governorate
	Map of Syria with Quneitra Governorate highlighted ; With UNDOF and Israeli occupied Golan Heights's borders
Country	Syria
Capital	Quneitra
Area
• Total	1,200 km2 (500 sq mi)
	Estimates range between 685 km² and 1,861 km²
Population (2011)
• Total	90,000
• Density	75/km2 (190/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
ISO 3166 code	SY-QU
Main language(s)	Arabic

Quneitra Governorate (Arabic: مُحافظة القنيطرة / ALA-LC: Muḥāfaẓat Al-Qunayṭrah) is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in southern Syria, notable for the location of the Golan Heights. The governorate borders Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. Its area varies, according to different sources, from 685 km²^[1] to 1,861 km².^[2] The governorate had a population of 87,000 at the 2010 estimate.^[1] The nominal capital is the now abandoned city of Quneitra, destroyed by Israeli settlers in 1974; the de facto capital is Ba'ath City, a planned town built to replace Quneitra city.^{[citation needed]}

The governorate was established in 1964 by splitting it from Riff Dimashq.^[3] Most of the governorate was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and 1973 Yom Kippur War (called the October War in Arab countries) and now forms the contentious Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Since the eruption of the Syrian Civil War, the Quneitra Governorate, including the UN-observed neutral zone, was subject to severe clashes between Syrian rebels and government troops, during which the rebels took control of much of the governorate.

Syrian Civil War

In June 2015, the rebels launched an offensive to conquer the governorate, but were repelled by the Syrian army.

In October 2015, the rebels launched another offensive, which once again ended in a stalemate.

Districts

Quneitra

Fiq

The governorate is divided into 2 districts (manatiq):

Fiq District, which is further officially divided into 2 sub-districts (nawahi).
- Fiq
- Elmahjer
Quneitra District (al Qunaytirah), which is further officially divided into 4 sub-districts (nawahi):
- Quneitra (mostly in neutral zone since 1973)
- Jabta Elhashab
- Massade (under Israeli occupation since 1967)
- Hushnia (under Israeli occupation since 1967)