The inhabitants had therefore created adobe barricades around the village and its surrounding gardens, thus preventing anyone on horseback to enter without dismounting, which an isolated Bedouin rarely did in enemy territory.

[7] Anthropologist Sulayman Jabbur, writing in the 1980s, noted that most of Sadad's working inhabitants made their income in the textile industry, primarily weaving abayas (robes) and woolen mats for the Bedouin tribesmen of the vicinity.

[8] Sadad was the most important market town for the Bedouin of the region, where they came to purchase clothing, tent equipment, saddles, coffee beans, tea and other supplies.

[9] During the Syrian Civil War, on 21 October 2013, the town was overrun by Islamist militants reportedly belonging to the al-Nusra Front, who set up loudspeakers in the main square, calling for residents to return to their houses.

[14] According to the Syriac Orthodox patriarch, Mor Ignatius Aphrem Karim II, Sadad had a population of 15,000 in the summer of 2015, but following the advance of ISIL forces in the area in the fall, about 2,000 inhabitants remained.