According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Qarqur had a population of 2,356 in the 2004 census, making it the largest locality in the al-Ziyarah sub-district (nahiyah).

[1] Qarqur, or the nearby tell ("artificial mound"), is identified with the Aramean town of Qarqara which was captured in battle by Assyrian emperor Shalmaneser III in 853 BCE.

Coins from the Crusader and Arab and Muslim periods were discovered on the site, as well as some pieces of Mamluk-era pottery.

Muslim rule continued in the modern settlement of Qarqur on the eastern bank of the Orontes.

[4] When the nearby Zeyzoun Dam collapsed, mass flooding resulted in hundreds of homes being damaged and destroyed in Qarqur, al-Ziyarah, Zaizoun and Qastun.