Syria Districts

The district, or mintaqa, is the second tier of Syria, between the governorates and the sub-districts. There are 62 on this map, from the compact districts around Damascus and the coast to the desert districts of Homs and Deir ez-Zor that are each larger than some countries.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Governorate: the fourteen first-level units
In the game: 62 districts

Start

What you are looking at

The districts of Syria as the humanitarian boundary release draws them. The districts fit together with no gaps, but the file has 62 where Syria is usually given 65, so a few newer districts are not drawn on their own: Qudsaya, created in 2009 out of Rural Damascus, is part of a neighbour here. Names are in English, and a few are spelled the way they are usually written today, such as Manbij and Qamishli.

Most districts are named for their main town, so the town and its district are one answer. Damascus is the exception in the other direction: it is a city, a governorate and a district at once, and a small shape inside Rural Damascus.

The districts are very uneven. Aleppo and Hama hold many compact ones, the coastal districts are small, and the districts of Homs and Deir ez-Zor are enormous stretches of desert. The groups are the fourteen governorates, and each district answers under the same name in Syria Governorates.

How to place one

Pick one governorate and learn it. Aleppo has 8 and Homs 6; Damascus has 1 and Quneitra 2, which are the quickest to finish.
Start with the large ones. Tadmur and Abu Kamal fill the desert east, and nothing else on the map is as big.
Follow the Euphrates. Ar-Raqqa, Ath-Thawrah, Deir ez-Zor, Al Mayadin and Abu Kamal line up along the river from north west to south east.
Read the coast as slices. Latakia and Tartus split into a handful of districts that run from the sea up into the mountains.

Every district, by governorate

Aleppo8 districts: Afrin, Ain Al Arab, Al Bab, As-Safira, A'zaz, Jarablus, Jebel Saman, Manbij
Homs6 districts: Al Makhrim, Al-Qusayr, Ar-Rastan, Homs, Tadmur, Tall Kalakh
Ar-Raqqa3 districts: Ar-Raqqa, Ath-Thawrah, Tell Abyad
Hama5 districts: As-Salamiyeh, As-Suqaylabiyah, Hama, Masyaf, Muhradah
Idlib5 districts: Ariha, Harim, Idlib, Jisr al-Shughur, Maarat al-Numan
Al-Hasakah4 districts: Al-Hasakah, Al-Malikiyah, Qamishli, Ras Al Ain
Deir ez-Zor3 districts: Abu Kamal, Al Mayadin, Deir ez-Zor
Latakia4 districts: Al-Haffa, Al-Qardaha, Jablah, Latakia
Tartus6 districts: Banyas, Dreikish, Qadmous, Safita, Sheikh Badr, Tartus
Rural Damascus9 districts: Al Qutayfah, An Nabk, At Tall, Darayya, Duma, Qatana, Rural Damascus, Yabroud, Zabadani
Daraa3 districts: As-Sanamayn, Daraa, Izra'
As-Suwayda3 districts: As-Suwayda, Salkhad, Shahba
Quneitra2 districts: Al Fiq, Quneitra
Damascus1 district: Damascus