As-Safira السفيرة Sfireh, Sipri[1]
City
As-Safira Location in Syria
Coordinates: 36°04′N 37°22′E / 36.067°N 37.367°E / 36.067; 37.367
Country	Syria
Governorate	Aleppo
District	Al-Safira
Subdistrict	Al-Safira
Elevation	348 m (1,142 ft)
Population  (2007 est.)
• Total	106,382
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	+3

As-Safira (Arabic: السَّفِيْرَة / ALA-LC: as-Safīrah; Aleppo dialect: Sfīre) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. It is the administrative center of the as-Safira District. As Safīrah has an altitude of 348 meters (1,142 ft), and a population of 106,382 as of 2007^[update], making it the 11th largest city per geographical entity in Syria.

Name

Medieval geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi spells the name Asfīrah^[2] (أسفيرة), not as-Safira (السفيرة), which indicates that the definite article in the modern spelling is a result of hypercorrection.

As-Safira was known in pre-Islamic times as Sipri.^[1] Historians^[3] have suggested that the name Sipri may have come from the Akkadian word siparru meaning "bronze", which might indicate that copper was mined and bronze was worked there.

History

Since ancient times the city has been the distribution point for salt gathered from the nearby Sabkhat al-Jabbul.

Archeological findings

The Sfire I Treaty which may contain 8th century BCE evidence of a deity called "Most High."

Climate

As-Safira has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk).