The pearl of the Syrian | سوريا desert: Palmyra

Postcard

Palmyra (or Tadmor in Arabic) lies in the heart of Syrian Desert. The city of palm trees was located along the Silk Route. Syria was a Roman (Byzantine) province from 64 BC to 636 AD. After the Romans conquered Syria, Palmyra flourished and became known as the city of palm-trees.

Syria is a country of 21 million people. It gained independence in April 1946. Damascus is the capital city of Syria and the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. 

The wave of Arab unrest that began with the Tunisian revolution reached Syria on March 15, 2011, when residents of a small southern city took to the streets to protest the torture of students who had put up anti-government graffiti. The government responded with heavy-handed force, and demonstrations quickly spread across much of the country.

By the start of 2013, more than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, were thought to have died and tens of thousands of others had been arrested. More than 400,000 Syrian refugees had registered in neighboring countries. In addition millions of Syrians are in need of aid or are displaced domestically.

Stamps

Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The family of President Bashar al-Assad has been in power since his father, Hafez, took over in a coup in 1970. The country underwent some liberalisation after Bashar became president in 2000, but the pace of change soon slowed, if not reversed.