Damascus (Arabic: دمشق Dimashq, Syrian Arabic pronunciation: [dɪˈmɪʃeʔ]) is the capital and the second-largest city of Syria after Aleppo. It is commonly known in Syria as ash-Sham (Arabic: الشام ash-Shām) and nicknamed as the City of Jasmine (Ara…
Aleppo (/əˈlɛpoʊ/; Arabic: ﺣﻠﺐ / ALA-LC: Ḥalab, IPA: [ˈħælæb]) is the largest city in Syria and serves as the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), it is also on…
Ar-Raqqah (Arabic: الرقة ar-Raqqah), also called Rakka and Raqqa, is a city in Syria located on the north bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 kilometres (99 miles) east of Aleppo. It is located 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the Tabqa Dam, Syr…
Palmyra /ˌpælˈmaɪərə/, (Aramaic: ܬܕܡܘܪܬܐ; Arabic: تدمر; Hebrew: תַּדְמוֹר; Ancient Greek: Παλμύρα), was an ancient Semitic city, located in Homs Governorate, Syria. Dating back to the Neolithic, Palmyra was first attested in the early second mill…
Idlib (Arabic: ادلب, also spelled Edlib or Idleb) is a city in northwestern Syria, capital of the Idlib Governorate, and 59 kilometers (37 mi) south west of Aleppo. It has an elevation of nearly 500 meters (1,600 ft) above sea level. In the 2004 ce…
Krak des Chevaliers (French pronunciation: [kʁak de ʃəvaˈlje]) (Arabic: حصن الفرسان), also Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in th…
The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: جامع بني أمية الكبير, Romanization: Ğāmi' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr), located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world.
Homs (/hɔːms/; Arabic: حمص / ALA-LC: Ḥimṣ), previously known as Emesa (Greek: Ἔμεσα Emesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 metres (1,644 ft) above sea level and is located 162 kilometres (101 mi) north…
Operation Orchard (Hebrew: מבצע בוסתן, Mivtza bustan) was an Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria, which occurred just after midnight (local time) on September 6, 2007. The Israeli and U.S. governments…
Latakia; Lattakia or Latakiyah (Arabic: اللَاذِقِيَّة al-Lādhiqīyah Syrian pronunciation: [el.laːdˈʔɪjje, -laːðˈqɪjja]), is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the …
Bosra (Arabic: بصرى Buṣrā, also spelled Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra and officially known Busra al-Sham Arabic: بصرى الشام) is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Daraa District of the Daraa Governorate. According to the …
The Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, a…
Kobanî, also known as Ayn al-Arab (Arabic: عين العرب North Levantine pronunciation: [ʕeːn elˈʕɑrɑb]), is a city in the Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the border with Turkey.
Hama (Arabic: حماة Ḥamāh [ħaˈmaː], Biblical Ḥamāth, "fortress") is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located 213 km (132 mi) north of Damascus and 46 kilometres (29 mi) north of Homs. It is the provincial capital…
Deir ez-Zor, also spelled Deir Ezzor, Deir Al-Zor, Dayr Al-Zawr, Der Ezzor and other variants (Arabic: دير الزور; Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܙܥܘܪܬܐ, Armenian: Տէր Զօր, Դեր Զոր, Der Zor), is the seventh largest city in Syria and the largest in the eastern part of…
Mari (modern Tell Hariri), was an ancient Semitic city in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located 11 kilometers north-west of Abu Kamal on the Euphrates river western bank, some 120 kilometers southeast of Deir ez-Zor. It flourished as a trade …
The Tomb of Suleyman Shah (Turkish: Süleyman Şah Türbesi) is a series of sites (all geographically situated in Aleppo Governorate, Syria), which housed the relics of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. Suleyman …
Masyaf (Arabic: مصياف Miṣyāf) is a city in northwestern Syria, in the Hama Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Masyaf had a population of 22,508 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the Masyaf Distric…
The Syrian Desert (Arabic: بادية الشام, bādiyat ash-shām), also known as the Syro-Arabian Desert, is a combination of steppe and true desert that is located in the northern Arabian Peninsula, covering 200,000 square miles (over 500,000 square kilom…
Al-Hasakah (Arabic: الحسكة, Kurdish: Hesîçe, Syriac: ܚܣܟܗ), also known as Al-Hasakeh, is the capital city of the Al-Hasakah Governorate and it is located in the far north-eastern corner of Syria. With a population of 188,160 residents in 2004, Al-H…
Syria is located in Southwestern Asia, north of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Turkey on the north, Lebanon and Israel on the west, Iraq on the east, and Jordan on the south. …
Bethsaida /ˌbɛθ.seɪˈiːdə/ (Greek: Βηθσαΐδά bēthsaidá;, from Hebrew/Aramaic בית צידה beth-tsaida "house of fishing") is a place mentioned in the New Testament.
The Palmyrene Empire (270–273), was a splinter state centered at Palmyra, that broke away from the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century.
Tartus (Arabic: طرطوس / ALA-LC: Ṭarṭūs; also transliterated Tartous) is a city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. Tartus is the second largest port city in Syria (after Latakia), and the largest city in Tartus Governorate. The population is 115,7…
Saint Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite (Classical Syriac: ܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܐܣܛܘܢܐ šamʻun dasṯonáyá, Ancient Greek: Συμεὼν ὁ στυλίτης Symeon Stylites, Arabic: سمعان العمودي semaan al aamoudi ) (c. 388 – 2 September 459) was a Syriac ascetic saint who ach…
Kadesh (also Qadesh) was an ancient city of the Levant, located on or near the headwaters or ford of the Orontes River. It was of some importance during the Late Bronze Age, and is mentioned in the Amarna letters.
The Citadel of Aleppo (Arabic: قلعة حلب) is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo, northern Syria. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back a…
Daraa (Arabic: درعا, Levantine Arabic: [ˈdarʕa]), also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera, and Derʿā ("fortress", compare Dura-Europos), is a city in southwestern Syria, just north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate, historic…
Damascus International Airport (Arabic, مطار دمشق الدولي) (IATA: DAM, ICAO: OSDI) is the international airport of Damascus, the capital of Syria. Inaugurated in the mid-1970s, it also is the countrys busiest airport.
Carchemish (/kɑrˈkɛm.ɪʃ/ IPA-ified from «kär-kĕm´ĭsh), also spelled Karkemish (Hittite: Karkamiš; Greek: Εὔρωπος; Latin: Europus), was an important ancient capital at times independent but also having been part of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo Assyri…
Tell Tamer (Arabic: تل تمر, Syriac: ܬܠ ܬܡܪ, Kurdish: Girê Xurma) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the al-Hasakah Governorate, located 40 km north of the city of al-Hasakah. Settled in the 1930s by Iraqi Assyrian refugees fl…
Quneitra (also Al Qunaytirah, Qunaitira, or Kuneitra; Arabic: القنيطرة al-Qunayṭrah) is the largely destroyed and abandoned capital of the Quneitra Governorate in south-western Syria. It is situated in a high valley in the Golan Heights at an eleva…
The Orontes (/əˈrɒntiz/; Ὀρόντης) or Asi (Arabic: العاصي, ‘Āṣī; Turkish: Asi) is a northward flowing river starting in Lebanon and flowing through Syria and Turkey before entering the Mediterranean Sea.
The University of Damascus (Arabic: جامعة دمشق, Jāmi‘atu Dimashq) is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through the merger of the School of Med…
The Nimrod Fortress or Nimrod Castle (original Arabic name:Qal'at al-Subeiba, "Castle of the Large Cliff", later Qal'at Namrud, "Nimrod's Castle"; Hebrew: מבצר נמרוד, Mivtzar Nimrod, "Nimrod's Fortress") is a medieval Muslim castle situated on the …
The second of two battles in al-Qusayr started on 19 May 2013, as part of the larger al-Qusayr offensive, launched in early April 2013 by the Syrian Army and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, during the Syrian civil war, with the aim of capturing the …