Kurd Mountain

According to English Wikipedia the upland is part of the Limestone Massif of north-western Syria, continuing the highlands of the western Aintab plateau southwards; German and Arabic Wikipedia assign it to the Taurus system. The Afrin valley encloses it to the east and south, separating it from the Azaz plain and Mount Simeon; to the west the valley of the Aswad River separates it from the Amanus. Elevations range from 700 to 1,269 m. Arabic Wikipedia gives a width of 55 km and a length of 75 km, about 3,850 km² or some 2% of Syria's area.

The climate is Mediterranean, with hot summers and cold, humid winters; Arabic Wikipedia gives mean annual rainfall in the Afrin area as 546.6 mm. The region lies at the north-western edge of the Arabian Plate; on 13 August 1822 an earthquake of about magnitude 7.3 was centred on Kurd Dagh, followed by another in 1872 on the southern edge of the Afrin area.[1][2][3]

According to the Sharafnama, Kurdish emirs of Kilis ruled the area. It was part of the Ottoman Empire until the First World War and enjoyed a degree of autonomy until the mid-19th century. The French Mandate borders divided it: the north went to Turkey, the south remained under French administration. The kaza of Kurd Dagh in the State of Aleppo had 21,823 inhabitants in 1922; according to German Wikipedia the area became part of independent Syria in 1946. In the 1930s, according to English Wikipedia, Kurdish Alevis who had fled Dersim settled in Mabeta.

The name Kurd Dagh is the Ottoman rendering of Jabal al-Akrad. According to the sources, the Syrian part was later called Afrin, renamed “Jabal al-Uruba” by decree 15801 in 1977 and afterwards “Jabal Halab” (Mount Aleppo); the Turkish part is officially called Kurt Dağı (“Wolf Mountain”).[1][2][3]

The population is predominantly Kurdish; most are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school, and there is also a Yazidi presence. The main crop is the olive, with more than 13 million trees according to Arabic Wikipedia, alongside cereals, vegetables, cotton and fruit. Traditional trades include olive-oil and soap making and hand-knotted carpets; English Wikipedia also mentions charcoal production. The forests, mostly pine and cypress, are described as the largest in Aleppo Governorate.[1][2][3]