River · Syria
Euphrates
Euphrates is the longest river of Syria, in western Asia. It rises in the mountains of Turkey and joins the Tigris before reaching the Persian Gulf through the Shatt al-Arab.
Picture credit: YG01 (CC BY 4.0) · Aziz1005 (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Euphrates?
The river starts here: mountains of eastern Turkey.
It ends in the Shatt al-Arab, Persian Gulf.
Countries on the river: Syria.
The story behind it
Few rivers have seen so much history. Thousands of years ago the first cities in the world grew up between the Euphrates and the Tigris, in a land called Mesopotamia, and people there invented writing on clay tablets. Farmers still lead the water into fields of wheat, cotton and vegetables, because without the river this region would be desert. In Syria a huge dam holds back Lake Assad, which stores drinking water and makes electricity. Cities such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor stand on its banks, and old mud-brick ruins lie half buried nearby. In dry years the water becomes low and warm, which is hard for fish, farmers and fishing families alike. Herons, turtles and carp still live in the reeds, and date palms grow along the shore.
Questions children ask
How long is the Euphrates?
The Euphrates is about 2 800 kilometres long from end to end. Around 710 kilometres of that distance lie inside Syria.
Which countries does the Euphrates flow through?
It is the longest river of Syria, but it begins in Turkey and continues into Iraq. All three countries share its precious water.
Where does the Euphrates end?
In Iraq it meets the Tigris, and together they form the Shatt al-Arab. That waterway carries them into the Persian Gulf.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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