The prevailing climate is that of the Mediterranean: rainy
winter and dry and hot summer with 2 relatively hot and mild transitional
seasons.
Syria can be divided into five distinct touristic regions with varying
features and terrain:
In the west there is a coast line 175km long, and mountains divided into
two ranges standing opposite each other:
The eastern range, stretching along the Syria-Lebanon border and called
Eastern Mount Lebanon , wherein Mount Hermon constitutes the highest peak
rising to some 2814 meters and covered with snow all year.
The western range, called Western Mount Lebanon, extends to the northern
part of the Syrian coastaline where it is known as Latakia Mountain, and
is covered with thickets and forests.
The Ornotes river flows between these two ranges and creates a fertile
valley extending north to Homs, Hama, and the Aleppo plains.- The
central part of Syria is covered by what is known as the Al-Sham desert,
where plains and pasture lands lend an unusual charm to a vast terrain of
sand and rock. In the middle of this lies the famous oasis of Palmyra.
- North of the desert there is a huge fertile basin formed by the
Euphrates River, whose source is in Turkish territory. It crosses Syria
diagonally in the north-east to exit into Iraqi territory, having been fed
by two tributaries in Syria, namely the Khabur and Balikh rivers. On the
Syrian part of the river rises a great dam which forms the 80km-long
al-Assad Lake.
- In this part of the basin there are several mountains, and some
newly-discovered oil-fields.
- In the south-west the Ghuta forms a green belt of orchards and farms
which surround the capital, Damascus, full of fruit trees. Through this
region runs the river Barada, which the Romans called.
“The Golden River”. Its spring is in Zabadani, a summer resort near
Damascus. The river flows through miles of meadows and orchards, then
branches into seven small rivers before reaching Damascus.
- In the south, Jabal al-Arab forms the greater part of the region with
its hills, volcanic rocks, historic cities, and rich vineyards. The vast
pain of Houran and the Golan Heights form the remainder of this region,
and have long been the most fertile part of it along the borders with
Lebanon and Palatine . |
