Ayn al-Kurum

Ayn al-Kurum
عين الكروم
Village
Ayn al-Kurum
Location in Syria
Coordinates: 35°22′28″N 36°15′46″E / 35.37444°N 36.26278°E / 35.37444; 36.26278
Country Syria
GovernorateHama
DistrictSuqaylabiyah
SubdistrictSuqaylabiyah
Population
 (2017)
  Total
22,000
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
City Qrya PcodeC3123

Ayn al-Kurum (Arabic: عين الكروم) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the al-Suqaylabiyah District of the Hama Governorate. The name of the village translates in Arabic as 'spring of the vineyards', which the residents attribute to its abundant springs and vineyards. It is surrounded by forests and straddles a steep ridge of the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range and the Ghab plain below it.

The village is frequently mentioned in Ottoman government records as home or host to Alawite rebels and brigands in the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period, Christians from Ayn al-Kurum founded the modern town of al-Suqaylabiyah. Today, it remains a mainly agricultural village and is the center of a municipality incorporating several surrounding villages. Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites.