Deir Ba'albah (, also spelled Dayr Baalbeh) is the north-easternmost neighborhood of the city of Homs in central Syria. Nearby places include the al-Bayda and al-Abbasiyah neighborhoods to the south, and the villages of al-Mishirfeh and al-Jabiriyah to the northeast. The neighborhood is split into three regions: al-Kassara, the northern neighborhood (Deir Ba'albah Shamali), and the southern neighborhood (Deir Ba'albah Janoubi).
According to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Deir Ba'albah had a population of 44,975 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.
The name of the neighborhood is derived from the Arabic word "Deir", meaning "monastery," and "Baal", referring to an idol or a rain god in ancient Semitic cultures. It can be translated as "the place of worship for the god Baal". The residents of the neighborhood still pronounce the name Deir Ba'albi, although it is written Deir Ba'alba.
Deir Ba'albah was incorporated into Homs from an existing village after the Syria gained independence. The neighborhood was considered a factor in the presidential, prime ministerial, and parliamentary elections in Homs during the days of Hashim al-Atassi and al-Sabai, because the entire eastern region was considered in his favor. After the 1970s, during Assad's rule, it was marginalized.
The neighborhood was involved in the Islamist uprising of the 1980s. During that period, military security arrested, executed and tortured many of its citizens. While some arrestees were released in 2002, most have remained in prisons and detention centers without trial since 1982.
In 2011, the Deir Baalba neighborhood was among the first areas in Homs to stage demonstrations against the Syrian regime and in support of Daraa. On May 20, 2011, the Assad regime carried out the first massacre in Tal al-Nasr, killing and wounding dozens. It fell under the control of the rebels for a period in early 2012, then returned to the hands of the regime in April of the same year; they carried out a second massacre in April, with 199 killed by Shabiha and security forces.
The Farouq Brigade regained control of the neighborhood in September 2012 in order to reach Khalidiya via the Bayada neighborhood to break the siege of Homs. At least 11 were killed by shells or Syrian snipers in a raid at the end of October. The regime retook the area on December 30, 2012, carrying out a third massacre which claimed the lives of 220. On Saturday, December 7, 2024, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham took control of the Deir Baalba neighborhood during the Homs offensive, 12 years after it fell to the regime. According to a World Bank Group report, 100 percent of the buildings in Deir Ba'albah were damaged during the conflict.
Most of the buildings in the old neighborhood were made of black stone and mud, the most important of which is the Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Mosque, which is considered the oldest mosque in Deir Ba'albah and has become a symbol of the neighborhood. There is also the Manzil of Deir Baalba (the Sheikh's Manzil), built of blue stones. There are a number of ancient landmarks in Deir Baalba that have added historical importance to it.
The Higher Institute of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering was established in Deir Baalba by Decree No. 2021 dated May 25, 1973, then affiliated with the Ministry of Higher Education. Following the issuance of Decree No. 44 dated September 14, 1979 establishing Al-Baath University (now Homs University), the Higher Institute became one of its faculties and is now known as the Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. This faculty was the only one of its kind in Syria before a similar faculty was opened at Al-Furat University.
The neighborhood houses the Hamza Muhammad Hamza School, the only agricultural school in Homs, which covers an area of 45,000 square meters (forty-five acres). It also contains the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Institute for teaching sharia and memorizing the Qur'an, the automatic oven for the bread industry, the Deir Baalba Sports Club, Al-Biruni Park near Al-Biruni School in the northern district in the Al-Amur area, and the southern district park. It also has a large water pump in the Kasarah area.
The local mosques include:
The local schools include:
Deir Baalba is home to a 110-hectare industrial crafts zone, which includes blacksmithing and carpentry businesses, excluding the industrial expansion area north of the main road. Deir Baalba is famous in Homs for its bulgur industry, which has a season resembling a holiday in Deir Baalba. It is produced and distributed throughout Homs city. Also, the manufacture of cushions made from esparto, which is a bamboo plant that grows on the edges of lakes and rivers. The hills of straw and halfa give the neighborhood a distinctive character. Deir Baalba was once the only town in Homs that had never been subject to feudalism; its inhabitants still own the land. Many of Deir Baalba's residents work in agriculture.
According to the 2004 census, the population of the neighborhood was 45,000 out of a total population of 750,000 in Homs. In 2011, the population was estimated at 60,000, distributed among the northern and southern neighborhoods, Al-Kassara, and Al-Bawarikha. The largest families are the Kanaan, Abbas, Sheikh, Suleiman, Al-Talib, Al-Najib, Al-Rahhal, Marai, Al-Hamad, Asrha, Madiha, Al-Nabhan, Al-Shamaa, and Al-Younis families. As for their clans, they are the Bani Khalid clan, the Al-Naim clan, the Al-Hasna, and the Al-Fawa'ira clan, which in turn are divided into clans. They all live in the southern neighborhood, Al-Bawarikha, and in the Al-Amur area in the northern neighborhood. In the neighborhood, there are Turkmen families from the Ottoman era, and other Armenian families who immigrated to it after the Armenian events of 1916.