{{short description|Depopulated Syrian village in the Golan Heights}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox settlement | name = 'Ayn Fit | native_name = عين فيت | native_name_lang = ar | settlement_type = Village | image_skyline = Ein-Fit-05.JPG | image_caption = Ruins at 'Ayn Fit | pushpin_map = Syria Golan | pushpin_map_caption = 'Ayn Fit in Syria | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{SYR}} | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Quneitra | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Quneitra | subdivision_type3 = Region | subdivision_name3 = Golan Heights | established_title = Founded | established_date = 17th century | extinct_title = Destroyed | extinct_date = 1967 | pop_est_as_of = 1960s | population_est = 1,500 | coordinates = {{coord|33|13|26|N|35|42|15|E|region:SY|display=inline,title}} | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 216/292 }}
''''Ayn Fit''' ({{langx|ar|عين فيت}}), was a Syrian Alawite village situated in the northwestern Golan Heights.<ref name="Abu Fakr_2000">{{cite journal |last1=Abu Fakhr |first1=Sakr |date=2000 |title=Voices from the Golan |url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/40836 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=5–36 |doi=10.2307/2676559 |jstor=2676559 |archive-date=29 January 2024 |access-date=20 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129071514/https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/40836 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite map |title=Southern Lebanon Border Area 1986 |via=University of Texas at Austin |url=http://lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/lebanon_southern_border_1986.jpg |access-date=20 May 2023 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112049/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/lebanon_southern_border_1986.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref>
==History== 'Ayn Fit was established during the early 17th century.<ref name="Ashkenazi_2023">{{cite news |last=Ashkenazi |first=Eli |date=10 May 2023 |title=Demonstrators protest IDF's plan to destroy heritage site in Golan Heights |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-743628 |accessdate=20 May 2023 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> The German explorer Ulrich Jasper Seetzen visited 'Ayn Fit in 1806 during his travels in the region.<ref name="Winter_2016">{{cite book |last=Winter |first=Stefan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3CYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |title=A History of the 'Alawis: From Medieval Aleppo to the Turkish Republic |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-691-17389-4 |page=31 |access-date=14 August 2024}}</ref>
In 1838, Eli Smith noted 'Ayn Fit‘s population as Alawites.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Edward |author-link=Edward Robinson (scholar) |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine |publisher=Crocker & Brewster |year=1841 |volume=3 |location=Boston |p=136 |chapter=2nd Appendix |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/136/mode/1up}}</ref>
Before the Six-Day War in 1967, it was one of three mainly Alawite villages in the Golan Heights, together with Za'ura and Ghajar.<ref name="Abu Fakr_2000"/> The population before the war was around 1500 people.<ref name="Ashkenazi_2023" /> The inhabitants were forcibly expelled during the Six-Day War, when Israel occupied the Golan Heights, and the village was destroyed by Israel.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mason |first1=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZKEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |title=The Untold Story of the Golan Heights: Occupation, Colonization and Jawlani Resistance |last2=Eldin |first2=M.F. |last3=Dajani |first3=M. |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-7556-4453-7 |page=110 |access-date=20 May 2023}}</ref>
==See also== * Syrian towns and villages depopulated in the Arab-Israeli conflict
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Quneitra Governorate}}
Category:Alawite communities in Syria Category:Razed cities Category:Former populated places in the Golan Heights Category:Six-Day War Category:17th-century establishments in Ottoman Syria Category:Populated places established in the 17th century Category:1967 disestablishments in Syria Category:Populated places disestablished in 1967