Ratyan

Ratyan (Arabic: رتيان‎) is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the A'zaz District of Aleppo Governorate, located northwest of Aleppo. Nearby localities include Mayer to the northwest, Al-Zahraa and Bayanoun to the west and Tell Jabin to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Ratyan had a population of 2,216 in the 2004 census.[1]

Ratyan رتيان
Village
Ratyan
Coordinates: 36°20′47.8″N 37°5′31.7″E
Country	Syria
Governorate	Aleppo Governorate
District	A'zaz District
Nahiyah	Nubl
Population  (2004 census)[1]
• Total	2,216
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

During the Syrian Civil War

Ratyan was an opposition-held town from early in the Syrian Civil War.

ARA News reported that pro-government forces, backed by the Lebanese militias of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, had taken control of Ratyan by 17 February 2015 and subsequently committed a massacre of at least 30 civilians, as well as injuring hundreds of others in the village, but that rebels of the Levant Front regained control of the village that evening, with one Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement commander, Hassan Maykah, killed in the fighting.[2] The Times, however, reported that rebels regained the village on 19 February, after several days of heavy fighting, capturing 32 government soldiers.[3]

There was heavy fighting in Ratyan in early 2016 as part of the Northern Aleppo offensive (February 2016). Pro-governemnt Al-Masdar Newsreported that the government recaptured the village on 5 February 2016,[4] although the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that half the town had been retaken by rebels that day,[5] and The Independent and The Guardian reported fighting continuing on 7 February.[6][7]

References

1. General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Aleppo Governorate. Archived at . (in Arabic)
2. Syrian army accused of massacre of 30 civilians near Aleppo. ARA-NEWS, 18 February 2015
3. Coghlan, Tom (2015-02-20). "Isis hit by desertions and disgust at brutality". The Times. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
4. Leith Fadel (5 February 2016). "Syrian Army, Hezbollah capture the strategic village of Rityan in northern Aleppo". Al-Masdar News.
5. "Up to 20,000 people at Syrian border - UN". RTE.ie. 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
6. Pitel, Laura (2016-02-07). "Turkey 'can take no more' as refugees build up on border". The Independent. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
7. Black, Ian (2016-02-07). "Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees remain stranded at Turkish border". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-08-19.