Homs Governorate (Arabic: مُحافظة حمص, romanized: Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. It has 42,226 km2 (16,304 sq mi).It is geographically the largest governorate in Syria. Homs Governorate has a population of 1,763,000 as of 2010. The Homs governorate is divided into six administrative districts (mantiqah), with the city of Homs as a separate district. Homs is the capital city of the district of Homs. Its governor is Namir Habib Makhlouf.
Contents
History
A Homs Governorate also formed part of Ottoman Syria, when it was also known as the Sanjak of Homs.
During the Syrian civil war, the governorate witnessed several major military operations, including the Homs offensive of November–December 2015, which marked one of the key campaigns in the region.
Districts
The governorate is divided into seven districts, known as manatiqs. The districts are further divided into 25 sub-districts, known as nawahis:
* - a newly-created district since 2010, formerly belonging to Homs District
Demographics
In late 2011, the population of Homs reached 1,803,000. This amounted to 8% of Syria’s total population. Sunni Muslims made up 64% of the governorate, while Alawite Muslims made up 25%, Christians made up 8%, Twelver Shia Muslims made up 2%, and Ismaili Muslims made up 0.2%.
Notable people
Joseph Atiyeh, silver medalist in Olympic wrestling, 1984 Summer Olympics