Rmelan
Rmelan is a town in the al-Hasakah Governorate in the northeast of Syria. Administratively part of the Ma'badah nahiyah of al-Malikiyah District, the town is located 900 km northeast of the capital Damascus, 165 km northeast of the governorate capital al-Hasakah, 70 km east of Qamishli, 30 km southwest of the district centre al-Malikiyah and 0.5 km southwest of the sub-district centre Ma'badah. It has an area of 5 km² and a population of 11,500, based on the 2009 official estimate. Since the beginning of the Rojava conflict, Rmelan has been part of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The town is famous for being one of the major centres of oil production in Syria. The first oil exploration works in Rmelan started in 1934. However, the town was founded in 1956 along with the discovery of the first oil well in the region, in the area of Karatchok. The as-Suwaydiyah oil field was discovered in 1959.
Because of its importance to Syria's oil industry, the town has a well-developed infrastructure including 22 km of roads, public parks, swimming pools, family clubs, cinema halls and cultural centres. Unlike most of Syrian Kurdistan, Rmelan has an abundance of trees, a consequence of the town escaping the Syrian government's ban on planting trees in the region. Abu Hajar Airport, is now used by the United States military as part of the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War. The town is also home to the Ommal Rmelan football club. They participate in the third division of the Syrian Football League and play their home games at the Rmelan Municipal Stadium. The population of the town is a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Assyrian people. Many workers from other Syrian regions also reside in Rmelan. The constitutional conferences of the AANES were held in Rmelan in 2014 and 2016.
