Jableh also spelt Jebleh, Jabala, Jablah or Gabala, is a coastal city on the Mediterranean in Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. with c. 80,000 inhabitants (2008).

Jableh was part of the Principality of Antioch

Principality of Antioch

The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade.-Foundation:...

, one of the Crusader States

Crusader states

The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land , and during the Northern Crusades in the eastern Baltic area...

, until it was captured by Saladin

Saladin

Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...

 in 1189 during the Third Crusade

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...

. One famous resident was Hugh of Jabala

Hugh of Jabala

Hugh was the bishop of Jabala, a town in Syria, during the 12th century. When the County of Edessa fell to Zengi in 1144, Raymond, prince of Antioch, sent Hugh to report the news to Pope Eugene III. In response, Eugene issued the papal bull Quantum praedecessores the following year calling for the...

, the city's bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, who reported the fall of Edessa

County of Edessa

The County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....

 to Pope Eugene III

Pope Eugene III

Pope Blessed Eugene III , born Bernardo da Pisa, was Pope from 1145 to 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become Pope.-Early life:...

, and was the first person to speak of Prester John

Prester John

The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval...

.

The city is home to the tomb and the mosque of Sultan Ibrahim Bin Adham

Ibrahim Bin Adham

Ibrahim ibn Adham is one of the most prominent of the early ascetic Sufi saints.The story of his conversion is one of the most celebrated in Sufi legend, as that of a prince renouncing his throne and choosing asceticism closely echoing the legend of Gautama Buddha.Sufi tradition ascribes to...

, a famous Sufi mystic who renounced his throne and devoted himself to prayers for the rest of his life.

The city is the home town of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam

Sheikh Muhammad Izz ad-Din al-Qassam was a Tijani Sufi who led militant activities against British, French, and Zionist organizations in the Levant in the 1920's and 1930's.-Early life:...

, a famous Islamic figure who fought against the French Colonization in Syria, and then moved to Palestine where he led a revolution against the British authoities and the well-armed Jewish gangs. Al-Qassam has become an icon of the Palestinian liberation movements, especially the Islamic movent of Hamas

Hamas

Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

 that named its military wing after him - Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist fundamentalist socio-political organisation Hamas. Created in 1992, under the direction of Yahya Ayyash, the primary objective of the group was to build a coherent military organisation to support the goals of...

.

In antiquity Jableh was an important Roman city, one of the main remains of this period is a theatre, capable of housing c. 7,000 spectators. Near the seashores even older remains were found dating to the Iron Age or Phoenician Era.

On less than 1 kilometer of the city centre lays the ancient site of Gibala, today known as Tell Tweini

Tell Tweini

Tell Tweini is an archaeological site located 1 kilometers east of the modern city of Jableh, Syria. It is situated within the coastal plain of Jebleh within short distance of two other main archaeological sites: Tell Sukas and Tell Siyannu...

. This city was inhabited from the third millennium BCE until the Persian period.

Thousands of people protested in the city as part of the 2011 Syrian protests.