Place Name
Syria (سُورِيَا)Place Description
Syria describes the country situated in the eastern Mediterranean region of the Levant, extending from the Mediterranean coast across a varied landscape of coastal mountains, fertile plains and river valleys, steppe, and desert. Damascus, the country's capital, lies in the Barada River oasis at the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and has served for millennia as a major political, commercial, and cultural center connecting the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Arabia, and Palestine. Syria became an independent republic in 1946 following the period of the French Mandate, which had been established after the First World War.
Following the 1948 al-Nakba, Syria became an important place of refuge and settlement for Palestinians displaced from their homes in Palestine. Palestinian refugees arrived in Syria in major waves following both the 1948 and 1967 wars, with communities developing in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Dera'a, Latakia, and other localities. Palestinians settled both in camps and urban neighborhoods, with the largest concentration developing in and around Damascus.
Yarmouk, established south of Damascus in 1957, became the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria and an important center of Palestinian social, cultural, commercial, and political life. Before the Syrian conflict, approximately 160,000 Palestine refugees lived in Yarmouk, which became widely known as a center of Palestinian life in exile. Its residents originated from numerous Palestinian cities and villages, including Safad, Haifa, Acre, Yaffa, Lydda, Baysan, Nazareth, Tiberias, Nablus, and Gaza, preserving connections to places throughout historic Palestine across generations of displacement.
The Palestinian diaspora in Syria was subsequently displaced again by the Syrian conflict beginning in 2011. Yarmouk and other Palestinian refugee communities experienced siege, destruction, and mass displacement, with many Palestinians from Syria subsequently seeking refuge in Lebanon, Jordan, Europe, and elsewhere. UNRWA currently identifies 12 Palestine refugee camps in Syria, including nine official and three unofficial camps, although the number of Palestinians remaining in Syria has declined substantially through displacement outside the country.Also Known As
سُورِيَا, Greater Syria, Bilad al-ShamPlace Type
CountryUpdated By
Wafa Ghnaim