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[size=18]The Old City is the most condensed area of Hims, and it includes the neighborhoods of Bab Tadmur, Bab al-Dreib, and Bab Hud and the area around the citadel, covering an area of 1.2 square kilometres (0.46 sq mi).[39] Little remains of the Old City; its walls and gates were demolished in the Ottoman era, but a short section of fortified wall with a circular corner tower still exists. Half a kilometer to the south, a large earth mound marks the site where the citadel once stood.[40] To the north of the citadel lies the Christian Quarter, known as "al-Hamidiyah".[41] This neighborhood is one of the few areas of Hims that retains its older look, with most of the black-and-white stone buildings dating from the Mamluk era. They are still used as shops and dwellings, and there has been recent renovation.[42]
At the time of the Abbasids, Hims was known for its seven gates. They were Bab al-Souq (Gate of the Market), Bab Tadmor (Gate of Palmyra), Bab al-Dreib (or Bab al-Deir), Bab al-Sebaa (Gate of the Lions), Bab al-Turkman (Gate of the Turkmen), Bab al-Masdoud (Closed Door), and Bab Hud (The Gate of Hud).[30] Only two gates—Bab Tadmor and Bab al-Dreib—remain today.[43] The oldest of Hims' mosques and churches are located in the Old City.[40]
Hims consists of several subdivisions outside the Old City. The large neighborhood of Khaldiyah spreads along its northern edge, while the more modern neighborhoods of al-Sabeel, al-Zahra, and Jub al-Jandali are situated to the east of the Old City. South of it are the neighborhoods of Bab al-Sebaa, al-Mreijeh, al-Nezha, Akrama and beyond them lay the Karm al-Zaytoun and Karm al-Loz neighborhoods.[41] The modern commercial center lies to the west in the neighborhood of Jouret al-Shayyah, and further west are the upscale neighborhoods of Qusoor, al-Mahatta and al-Ghouta. The suburb of al-Waer is located even further west, separated from the city by areas of farmland called al-Basateen and the Orontes river forming a green belt where it is forbidden to build anything.[41] The al-Baath University complex and dormitories are located on the western-southern edge of the city next to the neighborhood of Akrama[/size]
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https://i.servimg.com/u/f89/13/29/64/23/180px-15.jpg[/img][size=18]Throughout the 20th century Hims held high political importance in the country and was home to several heads of state and other high-ranking government officials.[30]
Under the French mandate Hims was part of the State of Damascus. In Autumn 1925, the city joined Damascus and the southern Druze chieftains in a full-blown revolt against French rule.[36] In 1932 the French moved their military academy from Damascus to Hims, which was the only military academy in Syria until 1967.[37] The Hims Military Academy played a major role in the years following the independence, as many of its graduates went on to become high ranked officers in the Syrian Army and many of them took part in the series of coup d'états that were to follow. Most important of them was Hafez Assad who was to become the president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.[38]
An oil pipeline between Tripoli and Kirkuk was built in Hims in the early 1930s and it followed ancient caravan route between Palmyra and the Mediterranean. 1n 1959, an oil refinery was built to process some of this oil for consumption by Syria.[30] Israel bombed the Hims oil refinery during the Yom Kippur war in 1973.[38] The city flourished under the newly formed Syrian state due to its central location and partial destruction of its rival city Hamah in 1982 when Hafez al-Assad ordered the Syrian army to quell the Muslim Brotherhood rebellion[/size]
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