Azaz (Arabic: أَعْزَاز, romanized: ʾAʿzāz) is a city in northwest Syria, roughly 20 miles (32 kilometres) north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census. As of 2015[update], its inhabitants were almost entirely Sunni Muslims, mostly Arabs but also some Kurds and Turkmen. It is historically significant as the site of the Battle of Azaz between the Crusader States and the Seljuk Turks on June 11, 1125. It is close to a Syria–Turkey border crossing, which enters Turkey at Öncüpınar, south of the city of Kilis. It is the capital of the Syrian Interim Government.
