Everything you need to know about Syria
Discover Syria through Damascusโs courtyards, Aleppoโs trading streets, coastal mountains and the Euphrates valley. Learn fourteen governorates, place twenty cities and locate sixteen sights, with ten illustrated topics and linked Arabic and Kurmanji lessons.
Read it, then make it stick
Geography of Syria
A Mediterranean coast, western mountain ranges and river valleys beside dry steppe.
Know the shape of the country
Start with all fourteen governorates, keeping Damascus separate from Rif Dimashq, then place twenty cities and find the Euphrates, Lake Assad and Mediterranean. Zoom in for the capital. Governorates: UNCS/OCHA via geoBoundaries, CC BY 3.0 IGO. Waters and coastal context: Natural Earth, public domain. These generalised reference maps do not show current control or front lines. The Golan Heights are occupied Syrian territory. Reservoir outlines do not show present water levels, and the offshore sea target is not a maritime boundary.
Sights and heritage
Essential ยท Sacred heritage
Umayyad Mosque, Damascus
Built in the early eighth century, the Great Mosque of Damascus is a major monument of Umayyad architecture and a living place of worship. Its courtyard and mosaics belong to the wider Ancient City of Damascus World Heritage property.
Locate sixteen places that illuminate Syriaโs cities, trading networks and living heritage. The selection covers all six World Heritage properties, with representative pins for larger sites. Damage, conservation work and access restrictions vary. Check current official advice before considering travel. Essential and Worth a detour indicate learning priorities. They do not establish present access or form a travel itinerary. Select a pin to read about a place, then play the map and find them all.
Take Arabic with you
Greetings and politeness
Hello, please, thank you, sorry: the ten openers everything else builds on.
Keep going one country deeper
When you have had your fill of Syria, the countries marked guide have a page like this one, and every other has maps of its own.
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