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The Syrian Desert (Arabic: Bdiyat Ash-Shm), also known as the Syrian steppe, Jordanian steppe, or Badia, is a 500,000-square-kilometer (200,000-square-mile) region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe in the Middle East, encompassing parts of southeastern Syria, northeastern Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia, and western Iraq. It covers 85 percent of Jordan’s land area and 55 percent of Syria’s. It borders and merges with the Arabian Desert to the south. The terrain is wide, rocky or gravelly desert pavement with a few wadis thrown in for good measure.
Historical Role:
Since ancient times, the Syrian Desert has been home to a number of indigenous nomadic Bedouin tribes that supported themselves by herding camels and practising small-scale agriculture along the desert’s oases. Despite the fact that the development of modern international boundaries has pushed many of these Bedouin tribes to settle near oases in recent years, a few of them still live nomadic lifestyles. Safaitic inscriptions, written by literate Bedouins between the 1st and 4th centuries A.D., have been discovered at various locations throughout the desert. The Syrian Desert served as a vital supply line for Iraqi militants during the Iraq War in the new millennium (2003-2011).
Location:
The desert is bordered on the west by the Orontes Valley and the volcanic field of Harrat al-Shamah, and on the east by the Euphrates. The desert gives way to more productive areas in the north, and it runs into the Arabian Peninsula’s deserts in the south.
Some publications refer to the Syrian Desert as the “Hamad Desert,” while others just refer to the southern central plateau of Syria as Hamad. Some people believe the Hamad to be the entire region, while others consider the Syrian Desert to be only the northern section.
The Palmyrene desert near Palmyra and the Homs desert have both been referred to as independent portions of the Syrian Desert. The Western Desert refers to the eastern half of the Syrian Desert that lies within Iraqi boundaries.
The Syrian Desert has also been given the name Shamiyah. Badiyat al-Sham has been used as a translation in the past (or Badiyat ash-Sham).
Climate and Weather:
The climate in Syria is the Mediterranean on the coast, with warm, rainy winters and hot, bright summers, and desert subtropical in the vast interior, with fairly cold winters and scorching, sunny summers. Summer is bright and sunny across the country, but the air is humid on the coast and dry elsewhere.
Strong southerly winds can hit Syria in the spring, and less frequently in the autumn, causing sandstorms and raising the temperature significantly.
Wildlife:
Caroxylon vermiculatum, Stipa barbata, Artemisia herba-alba, and Atriplex leucoclada are some of the Syrian Badia’s climax plants. Drought, overgrazing, poaching, and other human activities are threatening this desert habitat. Some natural animals have left the area, and many plant species have died out, being replaced with grasses with inferior nutritional value for livestock.
The golden hamster originated in the Syrian Desert.
The seasonal lakes attract storks, herons, cranes, small waders, waterfowl, and raptors. Small rodents, as well as their predators like snakes, scorpions, and camel spiders, are common; previously, gazelle, wolf, jackal, fox, cat, and caracal, as well as ostrich, cheetah, hartebeest, and onager, were all common. The large mammals are now extinct in the area.
Economy and Agriculture:
Due to limited rainfall and poor soil quality, the territory is now primarily used as animal rangeland. About twelve million sheep and goats, as well as a smaller number of camels, are grazed by Bedouin herders, many of whom are still nomadic.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development works to reduce rural poverty, and in 1995, it began a project in Syria’s Badia to rehabilitate over a million hectares of degraded land in collaboration with the Syrian government. In some areas, when grazing was restricted, there was a spontaneous return of many of the native plants. Grazing limitations were reinforced by reseeding and the planting of fodder species in other areas that were more seriously degraded. Nearly a quarter of a million hectares had been reseeded, and nearly a hundred thousand hectares had been planted with native fodder shrubs by the time the project completed in 2010. The outcome has been a huge success, with some herders claiming tenfold improvements in animal yield.
Conclusion:
The Syrian Desert, which stretches across parts of western Iraq and eastern Jordan and covers a total area of 500,000 square kilometres in southwestern Asia, stretches from northern Saudi Arabia into southern Syria (covering 130,000 square kilometres in Syria, roughly two-thirds of the country), as well as parts of western Iraq and eastern Jordan. Damascus, Syria’s capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is situated in the Syrian Desert on an oasis. The Syrian Desert’s natural boundaries are established by the Euphrates River in the east, the Orontes Valley in the west, and the Arabian Peninsula’s deserts in the south.
