Raqqa

Raqqa is a city in Syria on the north bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 kilometers east of Aleppo and roughly 40 kilometers east of the Euphrates Dam, the country's largest dam. Known in antiquity as the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine city and bishopric of Callinicum, it served as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809 under the reign of Harun al-Rashid, and was later declared the capital of the Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. Based on the 2021 official census its population was 531,952, making it the sixth largest city in Syria.