Skyline of Abu Qubays fortress, 2004

Abu Qubays (Arabic: أبو قبيس‎‎ also spelled Abu Qobeis, Abu Qubais or Bu Kubais; also known as Qartal) is a former medieval castle and currently an inhabited village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, northwest of Hama. It is situated in the al-Ghab plain, west of the Orontes River. Nearby localities include Daliyah 21 kilometers to the west, al-Laqbah to the south, Deir Shamil to the southeast, Tell Salhab to the northeast and Nahr al-Bared further northeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Abu Qubays had a population of 758 in the 2004 census.^[2] Its inhabitants are predominantly members of the Alawite community.^[3][4]

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu Qubays