Al-Qamishli

 city, capital city of state/province/region

Al-Qamishli (Arabic: Al Qāmishlī; Turkish: Kamışlı; Kurdish: Qamişlo; Syriac: ܩܡܫܠܐ or Beth-Zalin) is is a city in northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey, adjoining the Turkish city of Nusaybin, and close to Iraq. According to the 2004 census, Qamishli had a population of 184,231. Qamishli is 680 kilometres (420 mi) northeast of Damascus.

The city is the administrative capital of the Qamishli District of Al-Hasakah Governorate, and the administrative center of Qamishli Subdistrict consisting of 92 localities with a combined population of 232,095 in 2004.

The city was initially a small village inhabited by Assyrians/Syriacs called Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܙܠܝ̈ܢ‎, translit. Bēṯ Zālīn meaning House of Reeds. The current name is a Turkified form of it, where "Kamış" means "reed" in Turkish (the Turkish name for the city is Kamışlı).
The city has a population of around 230,000 people, witch are predominantly Kurdish, with Christian (Assyrian and Armenian) and Arab minorities. Most of the Christians have fled the city during the Syrian Civil War, with a population of around 20,000 remaining.

The Christian population concentrates mainly in the Al Wusta neighborhood, and the Arab population in the Al Tayy and A-Zinud neighborhoods. The rest of the city is inhabited by Kurds.

The city is mostly controlled by the Asayish, the Kurdish Police Force.
The Assyrian Quarter (Al Wusta) is divided by the Sutoro(pro-YPG Assyrian Militia) and Sootooro (pro-Regime Assyrian Militia).
The Security Square and most of Administrative buildings, the Al-Taay and Al-Zinud neighborhoods are controlled by the NDF.
The Airport and Military Base south of the city are controlled by the Regime's SAA.

The city is situated at the base of the Taurus Mountains, located near the area of ancient Hurrian city of Urkesh which was founded during the fourth millennium BC.

The city dates back to the 1920s, when a sizable amount of Assyrians escaping the Assyrian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire fled from northwestern Iran and southern Turkey built a small town which they initially called Bet-Zalin. One of the most important funders of the early development projects in the city was Masoud Asfar, an Assyrian who survived the Massacres of Diyarbakir as a young child. Masoud, along with stepbrother, whose last name was Najjar, established the Asfar & Najjar Corporation, a company that produced wheat in Al-Qamishli. Throughout the 1920s-1940s, the Asfar & Najjar Corporation funded hospitals, Assyrian schools, and churches throughout the city. However, in the 1960s and until the late 1970s, when Assyrians constituted two-thirds of the city's population, the Baath government actively confiscated Assyrian farms, lands, and areas, causing an Assyrian exodus. At this same time, many Kurds, fleeing persecution from Iraq and Turkey, moved in to the region.

The city itself (not the Assyrian Bet Zain) was officially founded as Al-Qamishli in 1926 as a railway station on the Taurus railway.

The city is the second largest town in Al-Hasakah governorate and since 2013 it is regarded as the capital of Syrian Kurdistan, the Assyrians/Syriacs also claim it to be a community capital.

In March 2004, during a chaotic soccer match, a riot started when some people started praising Saddam, turning the match into political conflict against the Kurds. The riot expanded out of the stadium and weapons were used against people of Kurdish background. In the aftermath, at least 30 Kurds were killed as the Syrian security services took over the city. The event became known as "Qamişlo massacre".

In June 2005, thousands of Kurds demonstrated in Qamişlo to protest the assassination of Sheikh Khaznawi, a Kurdish cleric in Syria, resulting in the death of one policeman and injury to four Kurds. In March 2008, according to Human Rights Watch, Kurds were also killed when Syrian security forces opened fire on the Kurds when celebrating the spring festival of Newroz and purportedly gathering to revive the 2004 riot in Al-Qamishli. The shooting left three people dead.

The city is renowned for throwing a large Christmas parade every year in December, and celebrating Newroz festival by a large crowd every year in March.