Zayzafun (Arabic: الزيزفون, romanized: Zayzafūn), also known as Ikadah (Arabic: ايكدة, romanized: Īkidah, Turkish: İğde) which may be alternatively spelled Aykadah or Ekdeh, is a Turkmen[2] village in the northern Aleppo countryside, Aleppo Governorate, northwestern Syria. Located on the Queiq Plain, between Azaz and Al-Rai, the village is some 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of the city of Aleppo, and just 1 km (0.62 mi) south of the border with the Turkish Province of Kilis.

al-Zayzafun الزيزفون
Village
al-Zayzafun Location of al-Zayzafun in Syria
Coordinates: 36°38′59″N 37°10′51″E
Country	Syria
Governorate	Aleppo
District	Azaz
Subdistrict	Sawran
Elevation	510 m (1,670 ft)
Population  (2004)[1]	820
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Geocode	C1658

Administratively the village belongs to Nahiya Sawran in Azaz District. Nearby localities include Kafr Ghan 2 km (1.2 mi) to the south and Hawar Kilis 3 km (1.9 mi) to the east. In the 2004 census, Zayzafun had a population of 820.[1]

Syrian civil war

In the Syrian civil war, the Ikadah IDP Camp, located 1 km (0.62 mi) north of the village at the border to Turkey, offered shelter to internally displaced persons (IDPs), mostly from the subdistricts of Azaz, Nubl, Tell Rifaat and Mare'.[3] In April 2016, the Ikadah camp was filled with 7,763 IDPs, when an imminent ISIL counter-offensive prompted a complete evacuation of the Ikadah camp and neighboring camps near Shamarin and Harjala.[4] On April 14, rebels retreated from Zayzafun and the neighboring villages down to Kafr Ghan and Baraghida, leaving the remaining rebel forces around Dudyan surrounded by ISIL.[5][6]

References