Syrian Desert

The Syrian Desert, or Southeastern Desert, is a vast and sparsely populated region in southeastern Syria. It is the basin of the river Euphrates. It consists of the districts Ar-Raqqa (arab. ‏الرقة), Al-Hassakeh (arab.الحسكة; syr.-aram. ܓܨܪܛܐ; kurd. Hesiça), Deir az-Zur (arab. دير الزور) and parts of the provinces of Muḥafaẓat Ḥimṣ (arab. ‏مُحافظة حمص), Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamāh (arab. ‏محافظة حماة) and Rif Dimashq (arab. ریف دمشق).

Cities
  • 🌍 Deir-az-Zur — a desert town on the Euphrates River bank
  • 🌍 Raqqa — Midsized city along the Euphrates, best known for serving as the headquarters of ISIS between 2014 and 2017.

Other destinations

In the province of Al-Hassakeh there are a lot of ancient sites that show up unexpected in the desert.

  • 🌍 Palmyra — magnificent ruins of a Roman city, in the middle of the desert. It can be considered the main attraction in Syria. Large parts this irreplaceable heritage was deliberately blown up by ISIS during armed conflict in 2015.

Understand

Be sure to practice desert safety if traveling to the Southeastern Desert (and war zone safety until the situation improves).

Get in

Get around

See

Do

Eat

Drink

Stay safe

See the warning in Syria.

Go next
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