Inkhil
Town in southern Syria

Inkhil (Arabic: إنخل, romanized: Ankhil) is a city in southern Syria, administratively part of the as-Sanamayn District in the Daraa Governorate. It is located north of Daraa and just east of the Golan Heights in the Hauran plain. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Inkhil had a population of 31,258 in the 2004 census. The city's inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.
01History
Roman period
In antiquity, Inkhil was known as Neeila. Among the ancient ruins found in the village are the remains of a large villa dating to the 2nd century CE during Roman rule. Within the building is a large vaulted central hall which connects to several rooms containing busts and other Roman-era sculptures carved from basalt. Its facade has highly decorated entrances and conch-head niches.
An inscription found on lintel fragments in an abandoned house records the construction of a temple in 161-163 CE, funded by temple treasurers named Ailius Torquatus and Sados.
During Byzantine rule, Inkhil was dominated by the Ghassanids, Arab vassals of the empire based in nearby Jabiya.
Ottoman period
In 1596, Inkhil appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of Nahal, being part of the nahiya of Bani Kilab in the Sanjak of Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 86 households and 45 bachelors. They paid a fixed tax rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives; in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 13,000 akçe. Most of the income (22 out of 24 parts) went to a waqf (religious trust).
In the early 1840s, the city consisted of about 50 houses, all of which were inhabited by Muslims. According to German archaeologist Gottlieb Schumacher, Inkhil was recorded to be a "small place numbering 55 to 60 huts" in 1897.
Modern era
Civil war
Inkhil was one of the first cities to participate in the Syrian uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 following demonstrations in Daraa. On 19 August 2012, four protesters were killed and dozens injured after Syrian security forces shot at demonstrators emerging from a mosque following Friday prayers. By 30 September 2016, there were 14,845 refugees from Inkhil (Ankhal) registered in Jordan.
Iran war
During the 2026 Iran war, an Iranian drone targeting Israel was shot down by the Israelis over Inkhil.
02Religious buildings
- Al-Umari/Omari Mosque
- Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque
- Companions/as-Sahaba Mosque
- Al-Huda Mosque
- Al-Bassam Mosque
- Al-Mustafa Mosque
- Al-Ansar Mosque
- Al-Qasim Mosque
- Saad Mosque
- Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque
- Hussein Mustafa Al-Shabli Mosque
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Inkhil”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Palace, Inkhil (أنخل), Syria - East facade - PHBZ024 2016 3602 - Dumbarton Oaks.jpg by Frank Kidner, CC BY-SA 4.0
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