Al-Suwar

Al-Suwar (Arabic: صُوَر, romanized: Ṣuwar, also spelled as-Suwar or al-Suwwar, Kurdish: Sewr) is a town in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, located along the Khabur river, north-east of Deir ez-Zor. In 2004, there were 5297 inhabitants.

Al-Suwar صُوَر
Al-Suwar
Coordinates: 35°30′23″N 40°39′42″E
Country	Syria
Governorate	Deir ez-Zor
District	Deir ez-Zor
Subdistrict	al-Suwar
Control	Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
Population  (2004)[1]
• Total	5,279[1]
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

History

In the past, most scholars identified al-Suwar with Suru (Su-ú-ru), the capital city of Aramean state Bit-Halupe at the time of Tukulti-Ninurta II; however, Suru is now generally identified with nearby Tell Fiden instead.^[2][3] Edward Lipinski instead identified al-Suwar with the town of *Ṣūriḫ or *Ṣuwariḫ (Ṣú-ú-ri-iḫ), the first town mentioned by the king Adad-nirari II in the province of Laqe on the Khabur river.^[3]

Civil war

During the Syrian Civil War, the town fell under ISIL occupation until it was liberated by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces during an offensive in September 2017.^[4]