2 It lies some 50 miles ( 80 kilometers ) from the Mediterranean Sea on the banks of the Barada River .
18 Some 50 miles ( 80 kilometres ) from the sea , yet separated from it by two mountain ranges , Damascus receives only about seven inches ( 178 millimetres ) of rain annually , most of it from November through February .

3 It is also at the eastern end of the only easy route through the Anti-Lebanon Mountains .
16 Its position on the edge of the desert and at the eastern end of the only easy route through the Anti-Lebanon range also made it a trade centre where caravan routes originated and terminated .

4 Over thousands of years , the city has been important for trade .
11 This tract , al-Ghu tah , has supported a substantial population for thousands of years .

16 Damascus University , begun in 1923 , is the largest of Syria's universities .
86 The University of Damascus , founded in 1923 , is the largest and oldest of Syria's four universities , and there are several institutes of technical training .

22 Like other nearby cities , Damascus was an ancient trade center , and it changed hands frequently in wars between many kingdoms -- including the Assyrians , Persians , Greeks , and Romans -- in its early history .
105 In succeeding centuries before Christ , it fell like other capitals of the Middle East to foreign conquerors -- to Assyrians in the 8th century , Babylonians in the 7th , Persians in the 6th , Greeks in the 4th , and Romans in the 1st .

24 For almost 100 years , from 661 to 750 , it was the capital of the Muslim world .
117 Damascus was the first great city of the ancient world that the Muslim Arab forces encountered .

25 From the 13th to the 16th century the city was the capital of an empire that included Syria and Egypt .
119 The city was renowned for almost a century thereafter as the capital of a luxurious and extensive empire -- the most far-reaching of any achieved by Islam .

28 By the 14th century the city had grown well beyond its old walls .
137 In the 14th century as many Damascenes lived outside the walls as within .

32 During World War I ( 1914-18 ) , the city was the headquarters of the Ottoman and German armies in the region .
165 During World War I the Syrian capital was the combined headquarters of Ottoman and German forces in their thrust to the Suez Canal and subsequent defensive war against British forces and their Arab allies .

32 During World War I ( 1914-18 ) , the city was the headquarters of the Ottoman and German armies in the region .
166 Before and during World War I the rise of Arab nationalism found ready ground in Damascus , which became a centre of anti-Ottoman agitation .

35 British and French troops occupied Damascus during World War II ( 1939-45) .
175 The Ba`th Party , devoted to that goal , originated there during World War II .

36 In 1946 Syria became an independent republic with Damascus as its capital .
177 Once again Damascus was the capital of an independent Syria .

39 The United Nations Education , Scientific , and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) placed the Old City on its World Heritage List of cultural treasures in 1979 .
43 The Old City was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979 .