Ras al-Ayn
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Ras al-Ayn
| native_name = {{Nobold|رأس العين}}
| native_name_lang = ar
| other_name = Serê Kaniyê
| type = City
| image_skyline = Serekani (Ra's al-'Ayn) Kurdish Syria.jpg
| image_caption = Serê Kaniyê
| pushpin_map = Syria
| pushpin_label_position =
| pushpin_mapsize = 250
| pushpin_map_caption = Location of Ras al-Ayn in Syria
| coordinates = {{coord|region:SY-HA|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Syrian revolution.svg}} Syria
| subdivision_type1 = Governorate
| subdivision_name1 = al-Hasakah
| subdivision_type2 = District
| subdivision_name2 = Ras al-Ayn
| subdivision_type3 = Subdistrict
| subdivision_name3 = Ras al-Ayn
| parts_type = Control
| parts_style = para
| p1 = {{TUR}}
{{flagicon|Syrian opposition}} Syrian transitional government{{cite web |title=تل أبيض ورأس العين تقتصدان في حلويات رمضان |url=https://www.enabbaladi.net/743212/%d8%aa%d9%84-%d8%a3%d8%a8%d9%8a%d8%b6-%d9%88%d8%b1%d8%a3%d8%b3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%ad%d9%84%d9%88%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%b1%d9%85/ |website=Enab Baladi |access-date=2025-03-09 |lang=ar|quote=وتقع رأس العين وتل أبيض بمحاذاة الحدود التركية، وتخضعان لسيطرة حكومة دمشق المؤقتة، وتحيط بهما جبهات القتال مع “قسد”، وتعتبر الحدود التركية منفذهما الوحيد نحو الخارج.}}
| elevation_m = 360
| population = 29,347
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_as_of = 2004
| population_footnotes = {{#tag:ref|{{cite web |title=2004 Census Data for Nahiya Ras al-Ayn|url=http://www.cbssyr.sy/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB08-15-2004.htm |publisher=Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics |language=ar }} Also available in English: {{cite web |author=UN OCHA |author-link=United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |title=2004 Census Data |url=https://data.humdata.org/dataset/syrian-arab-republic-other-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 |publisher=Humanitarian Data Exchange }}|name=census2004}}
| timezone = EET
| utc_offset = +2
| timezone_DST = EEST
| utc_offset_DST = +3
| area_code_type = Area code
| area_code = {{color|dimgray|+963}} 52
| geocode = C4988
| website =
}}
Ras al-Ayn ({{langx|ar|رَأْس ٱلْعَيْن|Raʾs al-ʿAyn}}, {{langx|ku|سەرێ کانیێ|Serê Kaniyê}}, {{langx|syc|ܪܝܫ ܥܝܢܐ|Rēš Aynā}}Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Reshʿayna — ܪܝܫ ܥܝܢܐ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified December 9, 2016, http://syriaca.org/place/172.), also spelled Ras al-Ain, is a city in al-Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria, on the Syria–Turkey border.
One of the oldest cities in Upper Mesopotamia, the area of Ras al-Ayn has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic age ({{circa}} 8,000 BC). Later known as the ancient Aramean city of Sikkan, the Roman city of Rhesaina, and the Byzantine city of Theodosiopolis, the town was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and in medieval times was the site of fierce battles between several Muslim dynasties. With the 1921 Treaty of Ankara, Ras al-Ayn became a divided city when its northern part, today's Ceylanpınar, was ceded to Turkey.
With a population of 29,347 ({{As of|2004|lc=y}}), it is the third largest city in al-Hasakah Governorate, and the administrative center of Ras al-Ayn District.
During the civil war, the city became contested between Syrian opposition forces and YPG from November 2012 until it was finally captured by the YPG in July 2013. It was later captured by the Turkish Armed Forces and the Syrian National Army during the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria.{{Cite web |last= |title=Kurdish-led fighters battle pro-Turkish forces for control of key border town |url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sdf-recaptures-town-ras-al-ain-pro-turkish-forces-northern-syria |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Turkey claims capture of key Syrian border town as offensive continues|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-claims-capture-key-syrian-border-town-offensive-continues-n1065381|work=NBC News |language=en |access-date=12 October 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/144313/|title=8 days of Operation "Peace Spring": Turkey controls 68 areas, "Ras al-Ain" under siege, and 416 dead among the SDF, Turkish forces and Turkish-backed factions • The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights|date=October 17, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://tass.com/world/1084181|title=Turkish army takes control over Syrian border city of Ras al-Ayn - TV|website=TASS}}
Etymology
The first mention of the town is in Akkadian {{lang|akk|Rēš ina}} during the reign of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari II (911-891 BC). The Arabic name Ras al-Ayn is a literal translation of the Akkadian name and has the same meaning; "head of the spring",{{cite book|author=Dominik Bonatz|title=The Archaeology of Political Spaces: The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE|date=1 April 2014|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-026640-5|pages=61–}} or idiomatically, "hill of the spring", indicating a prominent mountain formation close to a well.
File:Al-Jazira.svg (Upper Mesopotamia), showing Ras al-Ayn as part of Diyar Rabi'a administrative division]]
The ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy (d. 168) names the town Raisena.{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=John George |author-link=John George Taylor |chapter=Journal of a Tour in Armenia, Kurdistan and Upper Mesopotamia, with Notes of Researches in the Deyrsim Dagh, in 1866 |editor=Royal Geographical Society |title=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society |location=London |year=1868 |chapter-url={{Google books|hx5DAAAAcAAJ|page=281|plainurl=yes}} |pages=281–360, here: 346–350}} The town, as part of the Roman Empire, was called Ressaina/Resaina.{{cite book|author=J. B. Bury|title=History of the Later Roman Empire|date=18 July 2012|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-14338-5|pages=94–}} Another name was Theodosiopolis, after emperor Theodosius I, who enlarged the town in 380. The 11th century Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi visited the town, mentioning its name as Ras al-'Ayn, and assigning it to Diyar Rabi'a (abode of the Arab tribe Rabi'a). He also described it as a big city with plenty of water, around 300 springs from which most of al-Khabur river starts.{{cite book|author=Muhammad al-Idrisi|author-link=Muhammad al-Idrisi|title=نزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق: Or, Tabula Rogeriana|year=1154|publisher=عالم الكتب|pages=vol. 2, 661}} In addition to Ras al-Ayn, medieval Arab Muslim sources refer to the town sometimes as Ain Werda. Nineteenth-century English sources refer to the town as Ras Ain, Ain Verdeh (1819),{{cite book|author=Abraham Rees|title=The Cyclopædia: Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature|url=https://archive.org/details/cyclopaediaoruni03rees|year=1819|publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown|pages=449–}} or Ras el Ain (1868). The Kurdish name {{lang|ku|Serê Kaniyê}} also means "head of the spring" or "head of the fountain", referring to water source areas. This name is probably a modern literal translation of the ancient Semitic name.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}
File:Maunsell's map Ras el Ain marked.jpg
File:Ottoman Asia (partial, 1893) showing Ras al-Ain in Arabic in the red circle.jpg
Geography
{{expand section |with=about everything missing |date=November 2015|small=no}}
Ras al-Ayn is located in the Upper Khabur basin in the northern Syrian region of Jazira. The Khabur, largest tributary of the Euphrates, crosses the border from Turkey near the town of Tell Halaf, about {{convert|4|km|mi}} to the southwest of the city. The overground feeders, originating on the headwaters of the Karaca volcano in Şanlıurfa Province, usually do not carry water in the summer, even though Turkey brings in water from the Atatürk reservoir to irrigate the region of Ceylanpınar. While more than 80% of the Upper Khabur's water originates in Turkey, this mostly comes as underground flow.{{cite book |author=Greg Shapland |chapter=The Tigris–Euphrates Basin |title=Rivers of Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East |year=1997 |publisher=Hurst & Company |location=London |isbn=1-85065-214-7 |url={{Google books|VDKJV-916UoC|page=127|plainurl=yes}}|pages=103–143, here: 127}} So rather than the overground streams, it is the giant karstic springs of the Ras al-Ayn area that is considered the river's main perennial source.{{cite book |author1=John F. Kolars |author2=William A. Mitchell |chapter=A critical pressure point: The Ceylanpinar/Ras al-Ayn Area |title=The Euphrates River and the Southeast Anatolia Development Project |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |year=1991 |location=Carbondale and Edwardsville |isbn=0-8093-1572-6 |url={{Google books|e8sJ8HbfxuEC|page=222|plainurl=yes}} |page=222}}
= Ras al-Ayn springs =
= Water supply =
The Allouk water pumping station, which distributes water to the Hasakah Governorate, is close to Ras al-Ayn. Since the Turkish occupation began, the water supply has been interrupted several times.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/cfa20d02-03e5-4ea3-968f-f65e08d86311|title=Turkish-backed group's disruption of water puts 460,000 people at risk, UNICEF warns|website=www.kurdistan24.net|access-date=2020-03-24}} Previously, the station supplied about 460,000 people in Al-Hasakah, Tell Tamer, and the Al-Hawl refugee camp, but not since the last interruption in March 2020, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/mena/press-releases/interruption-key-water-station-northeast-syria-puts-460000-people-risk-coronavirus|title=Interruption to key water station in the northeast of Syria puts 460,000 people at risk as efforts ramp up to prevent the spread of Coronavirus disease|website=www.unicef.org|language=en|access-date=2020-03-24}}
History
{{expand section |with=missing epochs of the city's history |date=November 2015|small=no}}
{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
| width = 150
| image1 = Figurine from Fakhariyah (female), Tell Fakhariyah, Pre-pottery Neolithic B, 9000-7000 BC, gypsum with bitumen and stone inlays - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC07633.JPG
| alt1 = Female figurine from Tell Fekheriye (c. 9000–7000 BC)
| image2 = Figurine from Fakhariyah (male), Tell Fakhariyah, Pre-pottery Neolithic B, 9000-7000 BC, gypsum with bitumen and stone inlays - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC07636.JPG
| alt2 = Male figurine from Tell Fekheriye (c. 9000–7000 BC)
| footer = Two Neolithic figurines (9000–7000 BC), gypsum with bitumen and stone inlays, excavated in Tell Fekheriye.
Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, USA.
}}
= Neolithic and ancient history =
The area of Ras al-Ayn was inhabited at least since the Neolithic age (c. 8.000 BC). Today's Ras al-Ayn can be traced back to a settlement existing since c. 2000 BC, which in the early 1st millennium BC became the ancient city of Sikkan, part of the Aramaean kingdom of Bit Bahiani. The archaeological site is located on the southern edge of the mound Tell Fekheriye, around which today's Ras al-Ayn is built, just a few hundred meters south of the city center. During excavations in 1979, the famous Tell Fekheriye bilingual inscription was found. The nearby town of Tell Halaf is also a former site of an Aramean city.
=Classical era=
In later times, the town became known as "Rhesaina", "Ayn Warda", and "Theodosiopolis", the latter named after the Byzantine emperor Theodosius I who granted the settlement city rights. The latter name was also shared with the Armenian city of Karin (modern Erzurum) making it difficult to distinguish between them.{{cite book |last=Gibb |first=Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam: NED-SAM |url={{Google books|OO4pAQAAMAAJ|page=433|plainurl=yes}} |year=1995 |publisher=Brill |pages=433 f}}
The Sasanians destroyed the city twice in 578 and 580 before rebuilding it and constructing one of the three Sassanian academies in it (the other two being Gundishapur and Ctesiphon) in it.
= Medieval history =
The city fell to the Arabs in 640 who confiscated parts of the city which were abandoned by their inhabitants. The Byzantines raided the city in 942 and took many prisoners. In 1129, Crusader Joscelin I managed to hold the city briefly, killing many of its Arab inhabitants.
At its height the city had a West Syrian bishopric and many monasteries. The city also contained two mosques and an East Syrian church and numerous schools, baths, and gardens.
Ras al-Ayn became contested between the Zengids, Ayyubids, and the Khwarazmians in the 12th and 13th centuries. It was sacked by Tamerlane at the end of the 14th century, ending its role as a major city in al-Jazira.
= Ottoman history =
In the 19th century a colony of Muslim Chechen refugees fleeing the Russian conquest of the Caucasus were settled in the town by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also built barracks and a fort for a thousand soldiers to control and protect the refugees.
During the Armenian genocide, Ras al-Ayn was one of the major collecting points for deported Armenians. From 1915 on, 1.5 million Armenians were deported from all over Anatolia, many forced on death marches into the Syrian desert.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/24/armenian-genocide-survivors-stories-my-dreams-cannot-mourn|title=Armenian genocide survivors' stories: 'My dreams cannot mourn'|date=April 24, 2015|website=the Guardian}} Approximately 80,000 Armenians, mostly women and children, were slaughtered in desert death camps near Ras al-Ayn.{{cite book |last=Sondhaus |first=Lawrence |year=2011 |title=World War One: The Global Revolution |publisher = Cambridge University Press |location = Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-51648-8 |url = {{Google books|LHoA4psTCp4C|plainurl=yes|page=390}} |page = 390}} As well as the Deir ez-Zor Camps further south, the Ras al-Ayn Camps became "synonymous with Armenian suffering."{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Jones (Canadian scholar) |title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction |publisher=Routledge/Taylor & Francis |year=2006 |isbn=0-415-35385-8 |url=http://www.genocidetext.net/gaci_origins.pdf |page=110 |access-date=2015-11-10 |archive-date=2017-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010110108/http://www.genocidetext.net/gaci_origins.pdf |url-status=dead }}
= Modern history =
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the 1921 Treaty of Ankara, Ras al-Ayn became a divided city when its northern neighborhoods, today's Ceylanpınar, were ceded to Turkey. Today, the two cities are separated by a fenced border strip and the Berlin–Baghdad Railway on the Turkish side. The only border crossing is located in the western outskirts of Ras al-Ayn. The town was first part of the French colonial empire's Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and, from 1946, the independent state of Syria.
== Civil War==
{{Main|Battle of Ras al-Ayn (2012–13)|Battle of Ras al-Ayn (2019)}}
During the civil war, Ras al-Ayn was engulfed by the long Battle of Ras al-Ayn. In late November 2012, rebels of al-Nusra Front and the FSA attacked Syrian Army positions, expelling them from the town. During the following eight months, the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG), present from the outset, gradually entrenched its position, and eventually formed an alliance with a non-jihadist FSA faction. On 21 July 2013, this alliance expelled the jihadists after a night of heavy fighting.
The town was part of Rojava for the following six years, until it was attacked and captured by the Turkish army and allied Syrian National Army during the October 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, in the Second Battle of Ras al-Ayn.{{Cite web |title=Turkey claims capture of key Syrian border town |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/13/turkey-claims-capture-of-key-syrian-border-town |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}} After 11 days of clashes and siege, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdish YPG retreated from Ras al-Ayn as part of a ceasefire agreement.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/kurdish-forces-withdraw-from-key-town-as-part-of-cease-fire-with-turkey/2019/10/20/8b28d9fc-f1cf-11e9-bb7e-d2026ee0c199_story.html|title=Kurdish forces depart border city of Ras al-Ayn as part of cease-fire with Turkey|newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=27 November 2019}}
==Bombings==
On December 10, 2020, a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint run by Turkish-supported Syrian National Army rebels in Ras al-Ayn.{{Cite news|date=2020-12-10|title=Car bomb kills at least four in Turkish-controlled north Syria|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/syria-security-turkey-idUSKBN28K22P|access-date=2021-04-04}} Reports on casualties differed, but according to several sources the explosion killed over 10 people including 2 Turkish soldiers.{{Cite web|title=Car bomb in Syrian city kills 2 Turkish soldiers, 2 locals|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/car-bomb-syrian-city-kills-turkish-soldiers-locals-74653792|access-date=2021-04-04|website=ABC News|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Welle (www.dw.com)|first=Deutsche|title=16 Menschen sterben bei Anschlag in Syrien {{!}} DW {{!}} 10.12.2020|url=https://www.dw.com/de/16-menschen-sterben-bei-anschlag-in-syrien/a-55897558|access-date=2021-04-04|website=DW.COM|language=de-DE}} Turkish authorities blamed the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) for the car bombing as Turkey claims they are affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/27/civilians-flee-ain-issa-ne-syria-as-clashes-escalate|title=Civilians flee Ain Issa, northeast Syria as clashes escalate|first=Tessa|last=Fox|website=www.aljazeera.com}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/10/c_139580072.htm|title=Car bomb explosion kills 11 in rebel-held area in NE Syria - Xinhua | English.news.cn|website=www.xinhuanet.com}} According the ABC, no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Bombing continued in January and February 2021.{{cite news |last1=Musa |first1=Esref |last2=Koparan |first2=Omer |last3=Karaahmet |first3=Ahmet |last4=Misto |first4=Mohamad |last5=Ozcan |first5=Ethem Emre |title=4 civilians dead, 37 injured in Syria bomb blasts |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/4-civilians-dead-37-injured-in-syria-bomb-blasts/2096406 |access-date=23 November 2022 |work=www.aa.com.tr |date=2 January 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Musa |first1=Esref |last2=Ozcan |first2=Ethem Emre |title=Twin blasts hit northern Syrian district of Ras al-Ayn |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/twin-blasts-hit-northern-syrian-district-of-ras-al-ayn/2132675 |access-date=23 November 2022 |work=www.aa.com.tr |date=3 March 2021}}
Demographics
{{Historical populations
|type =
|1981|14278|2004|29347
|
}}
In 2004 the population was 29,347. The town has been described as having an Arab majority,{{cite web|title=Christians Killed on Syria's Front Lines|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/october/christians-syria-turkey-kurds-erdogan-trump.html|website=Christianity Today|date=11 October 2019 }}{{cite web|title=How will Syrian border towns react to Turkey's Operation Peace Spring?|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1566611/middle-east|website=Arab News|date=10 October 2019 }} in addition to Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen minorities before the Turkish/SNA takeover in October 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Finquirer%2Fkurds-americas-blood-sacrifice%2Fnews-story%2Ff01f7802a41c7cc82c1c81e847b00c70&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&nk=d4bf16d320479972d9e1b691a6335565-1617453930|title=Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps|website=www.theaustralian.com.au}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/141120191|title=Turkish-backed groups continue looting, lawlessness in Sari Kani|author=Mohammed Rwanduzy|website=Rudaw}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24740395.html|title=Rebels capture Ras al Ayn, 1st town to fall in Syria's Kurdish region|author=David Enders|website=Mcclatchy DC}}
{{Cite web|url=https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/1887281/us-allied-kurdish-force-conduct-patrol-syrian-border|title=US, Allied Kurdish Force Conduct Patrol on Syrian Border|website=Asharq AL-awsat}}
{{Cite web|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/20/c_138488354.htm|title=Turkish army captures key Kurdish city in Syria's Hasakah - Xinhua | English.news.cn|website=www.xinhuanet.com}} War crimes committed since the Turkish occupation began have since caused an exodus of Kurds, Christians, and other minorities from the town such as Assyrians and Armenians.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/turkey-syria-safe-zone-ethnic-cleansing-death-toll-sna-a9225896.html|title=Inside the ethnic cleansing of Turkey's Syrian 'safe zone'|date=May 16, 2020|website=The Independent}}
{{Cite web|url=http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Turks-and-jihadists-in-%E2%80%98soft%E2%80%99-ethnic-cleansing-of-Kurds-and-Christians-in-North-East-Syria-48418.html|title=Turks and jihadists in 'soft' ethnic cleansing of Kurds and Christians in North East Syria|website=www.asianews.it}}
{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/17/kurds-watch-homes-burn-afar-picture-ethnic-cleansing-emerges/|title=Kurds watch their homes burn from afar as picture of 'ethnic cleansing' emerges|first=Josie|last=Ensor|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=November 17, 2019|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}
{{Cite web|url=https://ahvalnews.com/syrian-safe-zone/ethnic-cleansing-already-taking-place-turkeys-syrian-safe-zone-independent|title=Ethnic cleansing already taking place in Turkey's Syrian safe zone - Independent|website=Ahval}} The Turkish government's resettling of mainly Arab and Turkmen Syrian refugees from other parts of Syria in Ras al-Ayn has further altered the town's demographics.{{Cite web|url=https://ahvalnews.com/syrian-safe-zone/majority-refugees-forced-return-turkeys-syria-safe-zone-report|title=Majority of refugees forced to return to Turkey's Syria safe zone - report|website=Ahval}}
=Churches in the town=
- Syriac Orthodox Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle (كنيسة مار توما الرسول للسريان الأرثوذكس)
- Syriac Catholic Church of Mary Magdalene (كنيسة مريم المجدلية للسريان الكاثوليك)
- Armenian Orthodox Church of Saint Hagop (كنيسة القديس هاكوب للارمن الارثوذكس)
{{gallery
| |Main Square
| File:Rasal-Ain,main.jpg|People in the city center
| File:Rasal-Ain,church.jpg|Orthodox church
| File:Ras al-Ayn city - October 2013.jpg |A view in October 2013. The city fell under Kurdish YPG control during the Syrian Civil War
| |Sulphur spring near Ras al-Ayn
}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|33em}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|Ras al-Ayn, al-Hasakah Governorate}}
{{Cities of Syria}}
{{Al-Hasakah Governorate|ras}}
Category:Divided cities on the Syria–Turkey border
Category:Kurdish communities in Syria
Category:Assyrian communities in Syria