Al Bab

Al-Bāb (Arabic: الباب‎ Al Bāb) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. Al Bab is located northeast of Aleppo and has an area of 30 km². Al-Bab has an altitude of 471 meters. It has a population of 144,705 as of 2007, making it the 8th largest city per geographical entity in Syria. The majority of the city's population is Sunni Muslim. Al-Bāb in Arabic means the door. According to Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in 1226, the name is a shortening of Bāb Bizāʻah (the gate to Bizāʻah). Bizāʻah (also Buzāʻah and Bzāʻā) is a town located about 10 km east of Al-Bāb. Al-Bāb was conquered by the Arab army of the Rashidun Caliphate under caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab. It received its name, meaning "the Gate", during...