Izz al-Din, Syria

This article is about the village in Syria. For the Arabic name, see Izz al-Din.

Izz al-Din عز الدين 'Az ed-Din
Village
Izz al-Din Location in Syria
Coordinates:
Country	Syria
Governorate	Homs
District	Al-Rastan
Subdistrict	Al-Rastan
Population (2004)
• Total	2,162
Time zone	EET (UTC+3)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+2)

Izz al-Din (Arabic: الزعفرانية‎‎, also spelled 'Az ed-Din) is a village in the northern Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located northeast of Homs. Nearby localities include Ghor al-Assi, Murayj al-Durr and al-Rastan to the west, Deir Ful and al-Zaafaraniyah to the southwest, al-Mishirfeh and Ayn al-Niser to the south, Dunaybah to the southeast, Khunayfis to the east, Salamiyah to the northeast and Taldara to the north. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Izz al-Din had a population of 2,620 in the 2004 census, making it the fifth largest locality of the al-Rastan nahiyah ("subdistrict").

In 1838 Izz al-Din was classified as a khirba ("ruined village") by English scholar Eli Smith. However, by December of that year Izz al-Din was one of roughly 20 ruined villages to be repopulated during the brief rule of Muhammad Ali's Egypt. The village was founded largely as a result of the Egyptian administration's major initiative to expand agricultural production. Izz al-Din was settled by the Arab and non-Arab Bedouin tribes of the Mawali, Nu'aym and Uqaydat. While by the 1840s, when the Egyptians withdrew from the Levant, most of the newly founded villages were abandoned, Izz al-Din was among the few that remained inhabited. Other remaining villages included Salamiyah, Taldara and Taqsis.