Dayr ez-Zaur [1] [2] ( Arabic. دير الزور ; also Deir ez-Zor [3] [4] ) is a city in the north-east of Syria , the administrative center of the governorate of Deir ez-Zaur (Deir- ez-Zor) .
| City | |
| Dayr ez-Zaur | |
|---|---|
| Arab. دير الزور | |
 | |
| A country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Dayr ez-Zaur |
| Governor | Khaled Al Ahmed |
| History and Geography | |
| Center height | |
| Timezone | UTC + 2 , in summer UTC + 3 |
| Population | |
| Population | 230,000 people ( 2002 ) |
| Digital identifiers | |
| Telephone code | + (963) 51 ... |
Located on the right bank of the Euphrates River. A transport hub on the Rakka - Baghdad river route and the Palmira - Fadgami highway . The distance to Damascus is about 432 km, to Aleppo is about 320 km.
Before the civil war in Syria, the city was called the Pearl of the Desert . During the war, he suffered serious damage. According to the 2004 census, the population of the city totaled about 212 thousand people. During the fighting, a significant proportion of the inhabitants left the city.
Content
- 1 History
- 1.1 Civil war in Syria
- 2 Attractions
- 3 Industry
- 4 In culture
- 5 Famous Natives
- 6 Literature
- 7 References
- 8 Notes
History
85 km southeast of the city is the archaeological site of Dura Europos - a Roman fortress on the Euphrates, and 120 km in the same direction are the remains of the ancient city of Marie . In the era of the Roman Empire, it was an important trading point between Rome and India .
In the III century, was conquered by Zenobia and was annexed to the kingdom of Palmyra . Subsequently, he was a member of successive states of this region.
In the XIII century it was destroyed by the Mongols who invaded the Middle East .
The current city was built in 1867 during the Ottoman Empire .
During the Armenian Genocide in 1915, the city and the desert surrounding it were chosen by the Young Turkish Government as the main gathering place for deportees, where thousands of Armenians died. Deir ez-Zorsky concentration camp existed here.
France occupied the city in 1921 and placed a large military garrison in it. In the early 1920s, the French built a suspension bridge over the Euphrates .
In 1946, the city became part of independent Syria.
Syrian Civil War
The city suffered significant damage during the civil war in Syria .
Mass manifestations of discontent in Deir ez-Zor, as in the rest of Syria, broke out in March 2011 . Large-scale clashes between government forces and their opponents began after the end of July 2011, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the introduction of army units in a number of cities, including Deir ez-Zor, in order to regain control of the situation. The introduction of troops and the subsequent repression against protesters led to bloodshed and the beginning of armed resistance by opponents of the ruling regime - disparate units of the so-called Free Syrian Army and local tribal units. In the summer of 2012, the rebels took control of most of the province and fought with government forces to seize the main cities. The extremist jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra also noticeably increased its activity during this period. Having seized the territory of the province, various rebel groups, including the An-Nusra Front, began to fight each other for control of the province’s oil fields.
The resulting civil strife was used by the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq [5] . Since 2013, its formations began to penetrate the region. In April 2014, ISIS armed forces launched a massive offensive, displacing Jabhat al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army from all the territories they occupied. Deir ez-Zor has become the economic and political center of the self-proclaimed jihadist caliphate [5] .
At the end of 2013, the defense of the city was headed by Major General Issam Zahreddin . ISIS troops cut the Dair-ez-Zaur (Deir-ez-Zor) -Palmira - Damascus highway through the Syrian desert. For more than three years, the Syrian military garrison of Deir ez-Zora was under siege, receiving help and reinforcements exclusively on the "air bridge", in connection with which the city received the nickname "Syrian blockade of Leningrad" [6] . According to estimates made in November 2016, over the five years since the outbreak of armed clashes in the city, government forces lost about 2,500 killed and anti-government formations lost about 3,000. Government forces at that time kept 40% of the city’s territory with a population of about 100 thousand under their control, and a military airfield is a key object of the city’s life support, ISIS formation is the rest of the city’s territory with a population of about 50 thousand [7]
Since the end of 2015, the Russian military provided humanitarian and military assistance to the besieged.
On September 5, 2017, the Syrian government forces, with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces, broke through the blockade [8] . Crucial during the battle for Deir ez-Zor was Russian air support [9] . On November 3, 2017, the city was completely liberated from IS formations.
Attractions
| External Images | |
|---|---|
| Battles in a besieged city | |
The city has a local museum, the Arab Cultural Center, as well as higher educational institutions (faculties): agriculture, natural sciences, arts and humanities, pedagogical, legal and medical, as well as vocational schools.
The local daily Al-Furat (Euphrates) is published.
In the vicinity of the city there are oil fields, on the outskirts of the city - a joint airfield (code IATA : DEZ).
Industry
The center of the agricultural region, where cattle breeding , grain crop production and cotton cultivation are developed.
After the discovery of light oil in the Syrian desert, the city became the center of the oil industry in Syria, oil fields and wells are located around. Salt is being developed near the city.
The city has developed tourist infrastructure: restaurants on the banks of the river, hotels up to five stars ( Furat al-Sham and Badiyat al-Sham ), a transport hub for traveling through the desert.
In Culture
In the 10th chapter of the Andromeda Nebula (1957) in Deir ez Zor, on the outskirts of the Syrian desert, there is a “base for technical and medical aid spirols”
Famous Natives
- Hijab, Riyad Farid - Former Prime Minister of Syria.
Literature
- Gusterin P.V. Cities of the Arab East. - M .: East-West, 2007. - 352 p. - (Encyclopedic reference book). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-478-00729-4
Links
- Deir ez-Zor on a topographic map of the General Staff
- Armenian Genocide in Deir ez-Zor
Notes
- ↑ Countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, Iraq // Atlas of the world / comp. and preparation. to the ed. PKO "Cartography" in 1999; open Ed .: T.G. Novikova , T.M. Vorobyova . - 3rd ed., Eras., Fr. in 2002 with diaposes. 1999 - M .: Roskartografiya, 2002. - S. 176-177. - ISBN 5-85120-055-3 .
- ↑ Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan // World Atlas / comp. and preparation. to the ed. PKO "Cartography" in 2009; ch. ed. G.V. Pozdnyak . - M .: PKO "Cartography": Onyx, 2010. - S. 120. - ISBN 978-5-85120-295-7 (Cartography). - ISBN 978-5-488-02609-4 (Onyx).
- ↑ Southwest Asia // Atlas of the World / comp. and preparation. to the ed. PKO "Cartography" in 2000; ch. ed. N. N. Polunkina; open ed. N.V. Smurova. - M .: Roskartografiya; Onyx, 2000 .-- S. 194-195. - ISBN 5-85576-095-2 .
- ↑ Dayr-ez-Zaur // Dictionary of geographical names of foreign countries / ed. ed. A.M. Komkov . - 3rd ed., Revised. and add. - M .: Nedra , 1986.- S. 106.
- ↑ 1 2 Tom O'Connor. How the United States lost the war in Syria to Russia and Iran // Newsweek, 10/13/2017
- ↑ Syrian “besieged Leningrad”: how residents of Deir ez-Zora fought for life in a besieged city // tvzvezda.ru , 09/13/2017
- ↑ Soldiers meters away from IS in Syria's Deir Ezzor
- ↑ The Syrian army has unblocked Deir ez-Zor, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense // NEWSru , September 5, 2017.
- ↑ Russian “Alligators” gobbled up the Syrian “barmalei” (Russian) , Izvestia (September 7, 2017). Date of appeal October 25, 2017.