While they have become an increasingly assimilated part of Syrian society, they have maintained a distinct identity; they have retained their language (in addition to Arabic), their tribal heritage, and some of their other traditional customs.

[9] That group of Circassians was mostly resettled by the Ottoman authorities as part of an effort to counterbalance increasing dissent by the local population in Syria, far from the capital Istanbul, with more loyal subjects of the empire.

[2] In the late 1870s, Circassians established a number of villages north of Homs and along the borders of the Syrian Desert, as well as in the area surrounding Damascus, namely Marj al-Sultan and al-Dumayr.

[10] Nearly all the Circassian villages founded in Ottoman Syria were located on conflict fronts, mostly involving the Druze and Bedouin tribes, including the 'Annizah and Al Fadl.

The most severe local conflicts were with the Druze, who dominated the area of Mount Hermon in the northern Golan Heights and the Jabal al-Druze region to the east.

[12] In addition, Circassians generally favored residence in the Golan as compared to the city because the area resembled the Caucasian ancestral lands with its wooded mountains, heavy rainfall and snow.

Funds from the provincial treasury and local contributors enabled each immigrant family to own a plot of land, a two-room house, a horse stable, two oxen and five grain sacks.

Together with Manbij and Khanasser, two other towns in the Euphrates valley, the Kabardian settlements were meant to serve as a strategic ring around Raqqa where the gendarmerie could be conveniently recruited.

[16] However, because of the creation of a number of Circassian cavalry units within the French Army of the Levant, and particularly due to their role in quelling the Druze forces of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash during the Great Syrian Revolt (1925–27), relations with the Arab majority became somewhat tense in the early years of the republic.

[9] After the Syrian defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War, the Circassian population largely fled the Golan Heights region, which was occupied by the Israeli Army.

Some Circassians returned to villages east of the ceasefire line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, namely Beer Ajam and Bariqa after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

[9] Circassians have generally stayed neutral during the ongoing Syrian Civil War between the government and anti-government rebels, which began in March 2011.

[1] Unlike other non-Arab Sunni Muslim minorities in Syria, such as the Turkomans, the Circassians have maintained a distinct identity, although in recent times they have become increasingly assimilated.

Circassian-dominated villages included Jawziah, Khishniyyah, Ayn Ziwan, Salmaniyah, Mumsiyah, Mansura, Faham, Mudariyah, Ramthaniya, Bariqa and Beer Ajam.

[9] They are Deir Ful, Ayn al-Niser, Abu Hamamah, Murayj al-Durr, Asiliyah, Anzat, Tell Amri, Tell Sinan, Tell Ady and Telil.