People in the city depend on trade and public services as the main source of income. It has six mosques and two main small squares: Al Hurria and Al Saha Al Amma Squares.
During the Ottoman era, between the 18th and 19th centuries, Talkalakh was home to the wealthy and influential Danadisha (also spelled Dandashi) clan.[3] They stiffly competed with Hammadi family and the al-Jundi family of Homs and Hama.[4]
On May 15, 2011, as a part of the Syrian civil war, the Syrian Armyshelled Talkalakh in response to attacks on the army that occurred a day before in the city. Seven civilians were killed and at least 2,000 residents tried to flee from the city into Lebanon.[5]
A resident claimed that Shabiha militias were targeting the Sunni inhabitants, assuring that "The city of Talkalakh is empty of people. Most of them have fled to Lebanon,".[6] The remainder of its Sunni residents continued protesting against the government.[7]
On 12 February 2013, a CNN report from inside Talkalakh revealed that the town itself was under rebel control, though government forces were only a matter of yards away, surrounding the town. Nevertheless, there was no fighting in or around the town thanks to a tenuous ceasefire between the warring sides brokered by a local sheikh and an Alawite member of parliament.[8] The ceasefire ended in June 2013, when government forces drove out the rebels and took control of the town.[9]