Halabiyah Fortress.  Built by the Palmyrans, it was major bastion during the reign of Queen Zenobia and later an important defence post for the Romans and Byzantines, guarding against Persian invasions.  It is said that the Romans captured Zenobia in this fortress while she was trying to escape to Persia.  After the Arab conquest, Halabiyah lost its strategic importance and was abandoned.

                From a high point in the ruins we had a splendid view of the remains of this Palmyran citadel, the river, the steppes beyond and, across the Euphrates, Zalabiyah - another of Zenobia's ruined bastions.  From our vantage point, it appeared to be a crumpled pile of ruins.  "It's sad to think that here Zenobia had her last days of freedom", Ibrahim commented as we left Halabiyah behind.

                The green fields again kept us company as we made our way westward.  Every once in a while we would pass women in brightly coloured traditional dresses picking the white cotton, creating colourful countryside scenes.  From the distance it appeared that the women were large blooming flowers in lush fields of green.

                Raqqa (meaning flat), an agricultural and commercial centre about half way between Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo, was our second stop for the day.  Founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C., it we rebuilt by the Abbassid Caliph, Al-Mansur.  In the ensuing centuries it became an important city and, for a time, was the capital of the Arab/Islamic Empire.  In 1258, it was destroyed by the Mongol armies of Hulagu and, thereafter went into 700 years of deep sleep.  However, during the last few decades, the nearby Assad Dam with its irrigation projects has roused Raqqa from its long years of slumber and it has  established  itself as a link between a rich past and a promising future.

                We drove through the bustling heart of this overgrown farming town with fine parks, impressive modern structures and well-kept ruins.  From these relics of the past, we examined the minaret of the once Great Mosque; the Baghdad Gate in the partially preserved walls; and Qasr al-Banat (Palace of the Maidens), a part of an Abbassid palace built by the Caliph Al-Mutasim.

                Noting that I was taking a photo of this relic, a passing young man asked, "Why are you interested in this heap of mud?"  It was hot and I was not in the mood to reply.  No doubt he thought that I was one of these mad Westerners.

                Passing the recently constructed Tishreen Dam, we came to Syria's most up-to-date town,   Madinat al-Thawra, where the world's largest earth-filled dam has been built on the Euphrates.  Called Lake Assad, the 640 sq km (250 sq mi) artificial lake supplies most of Syria's electrical power.  Before the century is over and if Turkey allows Syria its share of the Euphrates waters, the dam will irrigate some 640,000 ha (1,580,800 ac) of once desert land.  The newly built town, the dam and the hydro-electric pylons marching off into the horizon, were all constructed with Russian help.  This is reflected in the buildings which are sombre and have little Middle Eastern flavour.

                Making our way over the top of the dam, we drove for about 10 minutes to the citadel of Jabar - a unique pink fortress.  Picturesque with its richly decorated towers and minaret, it stands proudly, surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Dam.  Built by Nur ad-Din in the 12th century, it served as a guard post for the caravans in the Euphrates Basin.  Today, it has been restored and turned into a museum fortress - luring the historic traveller.

                From the Dam whose waters are being reduced by the Turkish dams up stream, we made our way back to the Rusafa, 30 km (19 mi) south of Raqqa.  Once a stop-over oasis on the caravan route from Palmyra to the Euphrates, it was important in Roman and Byzantine times.  The Ghassanid Arabs, allies of Rome, once made it their capital and after the Muslim conquest the Umayyad Caliph Hisham Abd al-Malik restored it as a desert retreat.  However, after the Mongol devastation of the Middle East, it faded from history.

                As we approached, its well-preserved walls rose out of the desert, seemingly out of no where.  One of the most extraordinary and best preserved of Syria's ruined desert cities, its structures, once praised by Arab bards, still exude some of their former glory.

                From Rusafa's impressive walls, we made our way westward on a newly built desert highway.  The road was literally void of traffic and we travelled at a fast clip.  By sundown we had reached Salamiyah - the town from where  the Ismaili sect of Islam began in the 10th century.  Here, the desert ended and Syria's rich farmlands began.  In Omar Khayyam's words ‘the town divided the desert from the sown’.

                Darkness was upon us when we settled in Hama's Apamee Cham Palace - the city's number one hotel.  In its fairyland atmosphere, reminding one of the palaces of Syria's Umayyad caliphs, I reminisced about the amazing evolvement of Syria in the last quarter century.  The irrigation projects which have recast the desert into modern lush farms, the building boom which has transformed the towns and cities and the electrification of the whole of rural Syria, told  a story of a country rushing into the 21st century.  Yet, its people have not lost their virtues of hospitality and friendliness and the country's historic ruins are being made more inviting day by day.

                As it was in the past, so it remains today.  Chroniclers have recorded that the Prophet Muhammad held Syria in the highest regard saying,  "Joy be to the people of Syria, for the angels of the kind God spread their wings over them."  Travelling through some of the rarely explored parts of the country, it was apparent to me that these words remain relevant in our times.

                                                                                           Habeeb Salloum