Al-Biyah

Al-Biyah is a Syrian village located in the Hirbnafsah Subdistrict in Hama District. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Biyah had a population of 1,803 in the 2024 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Greek Orthodox Christians.

History

According to 16th-century Ottoman Defter records, Al-Biyah was one of a handful of Christian villages in the Hama Sanjak. Its population rose from 31 households in 1526 to 99 households and 71 bachelors in 1594. It is mentioned by Patriarch Macarius III Ibn al-Za'im as one of the Christian villages located between Hama and Homs. He noted the village was part of a diocese called 'Euchaita' under Patriarch Michael VI Sabbagh but that his successor, Patriarch Ibn Ziyada, split Euchaita between Hama and Homs, assigning al-Biyah to the latter, after Euchaita's metropolitan Malachi died. The village continued to be inhabited in the 17th century,
According to an 1828 tax record, al-Biyah was a grain-growing village of 58 feddans. By 1838 it was listed as a khirba''.
In 1992 al-Biyah was incorporated into the municipality of Toumin.