Damascus

Damascus is the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic; it is also the USA's biggest metropolis, following the decline in populace of Aleppo because of the battle for the city. It is colloquially regarded in Syria as ash-Sham and titled the City of Jasmine. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities inside the international, Damascus is a chief cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world. The city has an predicted population of 1,711,000 as of 2009.

Located in south-western Syria, Damascus is the center of a big metropolitan area of 2.7 million humans. Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain variety 80 kilometres inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres above sea level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid weather due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows via Damascus.

First settled inside the second millennium BC, it became selected as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic energy turned into moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline in the course of the Abbasid technology, handiest to regain large importance inside the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Today, it is the seat of the primary government and all the government ministries.