{"id":17315,"date":"2026-09-06T09:22:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T09:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/central-park-deir-ezzor-green-space-stricken-city\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T09:22:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T09:22:52","slug":"central-park-deir-ezzor-green-space-stricken-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/central-park-deir-ezzor-green-space-stricken-city\/","title":{"rendered":"The Central Park in Deir ez-Zor: Shrinking a Green Space\u2026 in the Heart of a Stricken City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, 90% of which was destroyed by the war, and which lost 41%<\/a> of its population, estimated at 239,196 people, compared to an estimated figure of about (173,727) people in 2024, with a clear change in the demographic makeup, due to the forced migration of its residents, against the arrival of new residents from outside the city, especially from the surrounding countryside \u2014 it is no longer the Bride of the Euphrates, after the hundreds of barrel bombs that destroyed entire neighborhoods and left the city colonies of grey rubble, as if it were a city abandoned to the ants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 During his recent visit to the eastern region, the Minister of Awqaf (Religious Endowments), Mohammad Abu al-Khair Shukri, lays the foundation stone for the Grand Umayyad Mosque in Deir ez-Zor \u2014 a matter that created confusion among the city’s residents, between those who see the project as a development landmark, and those who see in it a clear encroachment on a public common owned by the citizen, since it is considered the only space and breathing room for the residents of the destroyed neighborhoods surrounding the park, and a lung for the city with its desert climate, especially after the city’s climate changed due to its intense exposure to shelling, systematic destruction, and the toxic emissions released from the primitive burners that spread abundantly around the city. In addition, there are no convincing justifications for building a new mosque, alongside four mosques that surround the park, say the citizens opposed to the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Working to erect a concrete block on a public space like the Central Park is something no sane person can accept; today Deir ez-Zor is in the most urgent need of public green spaces\"
<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
According to Nisreen, 45, an English-language teacher, a daughter of Deir ez-Zor and a mother of four children, Deir ez-Zor before 2011 witnessed tangible improvements at the level of public services, and had begun to catch its breath in the last few years before the conflict in Syria began. At that time, Al-Furat University was established, various colleges were opened, and there were improvements at the infrastructure level, from modern roundabouts to new schools in the city and the distant countryside. Among all the improvements was the opening of the Central Park in 2003 on an area of up to 40,000 square meters \u2014 an event the city’s residents read as a promising step for the city of Deir ez-Zor, which the regime of Assad the father had marginalized for long decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Central Park in Deir ez-Zor \/ Syria<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The only breathing space for the residents of the nearby destroyed neighborhoods <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Central Park sits in the middle of the neighborhoods of al-Hamidiyah, al-Jubaila, and Souq Deir ez-Zor. All the apartments in these neighborhoods were designed by housing cooperatives, without taking into account the importance of having internal gardens, and the Central Park is considered the only free public space for the residents of these neighborhoods, a refuge for families from the summer heat in their sweltering homes during the hours of electricity rationing in summer, and a shelter from the cold destroyed houses in winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The random and reckless felling and cutting of trees during the years of ISIS’s siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the four years of ISIS’s siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor, the states of chaos led to the cutting of most of the city’s trees for use in heating, due to the complete absence of fuel \u2014 a matter that makes the city in need of preserving the few remaining trees. But the reality is that the trees of the Central Park that survived the felling stand today awaiting the saw, and some of them have already been cut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iman al-Alyan, a civil activist and founder of the “Women of Tomorrow” organization, says that working to erect a concrete block on a public space like the Central Park is something no sane person can accept; today Deir ez-Zor is in the most urgent need of public green spaces, and this park is one of the most important of these spaces. The government allows the cutting of the trees and their replacement with reinforced concrete, instead of rehabilitating it and providing it with service facilities and children’s play areas \u2014 the children of Deir ez-Zor were deprived of living their childhood and suffered from the war and its consequences \u2014 along the lines of the parks that exist in other governorates, such as Azadi Park in Qamishli, which the Autonomous Administration rehabilitated, planted with trees, and furnished with cultural sculptures symbolizing the different Syrian governorates, evoking famous landmarks from the various Syrian governorates.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Mosques are many, whereas parks are rare and un-rehabilitated, and most of them turned into cemeteries during the years of the war\"
<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
 She adds: “Even if the mosque is built on only a small part of the park, that will restrict the freedom of the park’s visitors, particularly women. The presence of a mosque inside the park will eliminate the privacy of the place and cause the exclusion of women, since women usually frequent the park for the purpose of relaxation, which cannot be achieved with the presence of a mosque and the religious restrictions and the respect for religious spaces that follow from it.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The primitive oil burners in Deir ez-Zor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imran al-Ali, an oncologist from the city of Deir ez-Zor, says that the city suffers from high rates of tumors and cancer, respiratory diseases, and disabilities because of the effects resulting from years of operating the makeshift burners \u2014 a matter that calls for organizing emergency activities to plant trees in the city, and for dealing with public parks as necessary and urgent spaces, in order to reduce the negative effects of the emissions of the primitive burners and the pollution resulting from the years of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, the scarcity of available, safe, free public spaces for children pushes them to play in an environment infested with mines and the remnants of war. The city of Deir ez-Zor is considered one of the most destroyed Syrian cities, infested with mines and the remnants of war, and despite the absence of a precise number of victims of mines and war remnants, Umm Omar (a pseudonym) \u2014 Omar being 8 years old, from the city of Deir ez-Zor, a patient with hydrocephalus who lives in the destroyed al-Hamidiyah neighborhood \u2014 his mother says: “For my child, the situation here is tragic. Omar did not live his childhood, and this park is our only breathing space. Even school is not safe for him, as he was subjected to sexual harassment, which forced us to continue his education at home. Every Monday and Thursday, we go to the park.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Scenes from the bulldozing operations of the Central Park in Deir ez-Zor \/ Syria<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Hiba al-Ali, 45, a housewife and mother of four children, the youngest of whom is also a patient with hydrocephalus, lives with her husband and her four children. Hiba and her children sit on one of the few green patches in the park, which has been neglected since the beginning of the war in Syria. Hiba says: “I don’t know whether this park will remain open to us after the mosque is built, or whether those in charge of the mosque and the worshippers will prevent women from frequenting the park. The problem is that we live in a destroyed neighborhood, and my child who has hydrocephalus has no nearby place where he can play. He can no longer even go to school because of the pupils bullying him, and the street is not safe because of the widespread rubble and the remnants of war. I used to think the government would give the park greater attention, such as restoring it and replanting it, but the project of building the mosque on the park’s land is a real disappointment. Mosques are many, whereas parks are rare and un-rehabilitated, and most of them turned into cemeteries during the years of the war.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In return, the media spokesperson for the Awqaf Directorate in Deir ez-Zor, Muhannad al-Muhammad, tells the Silat Wassel platform, in answer to a question about the reason for choosing the Central Park’s land to build a mosque on part of it, and whether an environmental impact study was conducted for this project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The nature of the site and its areas were studied precisely, and it emerged, after surveying and taking measurements of the entire park land, that the paved areas and the large lakes in the middle of the park are several times the area of the mosque currently being built. Work will also be done to rearrange the park and increase its vegetation cover by expanding the green areas and planting them with evergreen trees. In addition, the mosque will be built in the heritage style, so that it consists of a courtyard, arcades, and a prayer hall, and the largest part of it will be an open, un-roofed space directly connected to the park, allowing visitors and worshippers to enter and exit easily. As for the roofed area, it will not exceed 6,000 square meters, i.e., equivalent to only about 10 percent of the total area of the park.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"The opening of the Central Park in 2003, on an area of up to 40,000 square meters, was an event the city's residents read as a promising step for the city of Deir ez-Zor, which the regime had marginalized for decades\"
<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
As for the reason for choosing the Central Park’s land to build the mosque on it, he answers: “The Central Park is a waqf (endowment) land whose full ownership belongs to the Awqaf Directorate, and all the official title deeds and plans that prove this exist. A number of witnesses and townspeople also mentioned that the site had been designated for building a mosque on it since the eighties of the last century, before the park was created, and the project was halted at that time by the former regime. The site was also chosen because it is in the middle of the city of Deir ez-Zor, which lacks a large congregational mosque that brings people together, and there is no other waqf land that meets these conditions. Moreover, the site forms an extension of important archaeological and historical sites such as the vaulted souk and the Suspension Bridge over the Euphrates River, which adds a civilizational and touristic dimension to the area.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silat Wassel also posed a question about the fate of the trees and the vegetation cover on the area the mosque will occupy. In this context, he points out: ” The mosque will occupy the southern section of the park, which is a part that contains a limited number of trees, and after the study it emerged that the project will not affect the green areas in the way being circulated. Rather, work will be done to reorganize the park, increase its vegetation cover, and plant evergreen trees, achieving a clear balance between the architectural character of the mosque and the green areas surrounding it. Also, the design of the mosque \u2014 open and not fully enclosed \u2014 will preserve its visual and environmental integration with the park and its surroundings.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Scenes from the bulldozing operations of the Central Park in Deir ez-Zor \/ Syria<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Fifty mosques in the city of Deir ez-Zor, according to a bulletin issued by the Awqaf Directorate in Deir ez-Zor, apart from the Grand Umayyad Mosque under construction: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 27-5-2026, the Awqaf Directorate in Deir ez-Zor circulated a list of the mosques where residents could perform the Eid prayer, and the list showed that there are 50 mosques in the city of Deir ez-Zor open to worshippers. The number of mosques that were damaged and put out of service reaches at least about double this number, one of them the Imam al-Shafi’i Mosque, which is directly adjacent to the Central Park. In return, all the parks of the city of Deir ez-Zor are out of service, except for Tulaytila Park and Lovers’ Park in the al-Qusour neighborhood, which was not affected by the destruction because of the presence of the former regime and the militias loyal to it in it. As for the rest of the city’s parks, they suffered widespread destruction and turned into cemeteries for the victims of the conflict in the city of Deir ez-Zor, among the factions that succeeded one another over the city \u2014 such as the Free Army, al-Nusra Front, and ISIS \u2014 with one another, and with the forces of the former regime and its militias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between the opinions supporting the building of the mosque \u2014 on the consideration that it is a unifying civilizational landmark for the residents of the city of Deir ez-Zor, sending hope to the residents of the destroyed city that Deir ez-Zor is present on the reconstruction list \u2014 and those who see the project as an ill-considered decision imposed on the residents without taking into account the negative environmental impact and the residents’ loss of a last public and free space, at a time when the governorate’s infrastructure is neglected, from collapsed bridges to dilapidated institutions. According to local residents, the catastrophic consequences revealed by the rise in the water level of the Euphrates River in the last days of May \u2014 and the flooding of agricultural lands and the collapse of the earthen bridges \u2014 expose the need for real projects that support the residents’ capacity to hold on and remain. The project’s course continues at full speed, and the digging operations continue, along with the cutting of trees and the overturning of the park’s soil, with all the memories it holds for the people of the city and the bloody events it witnessed over the course of fourteen years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, 90% of which was destroyed by the war, and which lost 41% of its population, estimated at 239,196 people, compared to an estimated figure of about (173,727) people in 2024, with a clear change in the demographic makeup, due to the forced migration of its residents, against the arrival of new residents from outside the city, especially from the surrounding countryside \u2014 it is no longer the Bride of the Euphrates, after the hundreds of barrel bombs that destroyed entire neighborhoods and left the city colonies of grey rubble, as if it were a city abandoned to the ants.  During his recent visit to the eastern region, the Minister of Awqaf (Religious Endowments), Mohammad Abu al-Khair Shukri, lays the foundation stone for the Grand Umayyad Mosque in Deir ez-Zor \u2014 a matter that created confusion among the city’s residents, between those who see the project as a development landmark, and those who see in it a clear encroachment on a public common owned by the citizen, since it is considered the only space and breathing room for the residents of the destroyed neighborhoods surrounding the park, and a lung for the city with its desert climate, especially after the city’s climate changed due to its intense exposure to shelling, systematic destruction, and the toxic emissions released from the primitive burners that spread abundantly around the city. In addition, there are no convincing justifications for building a new mosque, alongside four mosques that surround the park, say the citizens opposed to the project. “Working to erect a concrete block on a public space like the Central Park is something no sane person can accept; today Deir ez-Zor is in the most urgent need of public green spaces” According to Nisreen, 45, an English-language teacher, a daughter of Deir ez-Zor and a mother of four children, Deir ez-Zor before 2011 witnessed tangible improvements at the level of public services, and had begun to catch its breath in the last few years before the conflict in Syria began. At that time, Al-Furat University was established, various colleges were opened, and there were improvements at the infrastructure level, from modern roundabouts to new schools in the city and the distant countryside. Among all the improvements was the opening of the Central Park in 2003 on an area of up to 40,000 square meters \u2014 an event the city’s residents read as a promising step for the city of Deir ez-Zor, which the regime of Assad the father had marginalized for long decades. The only breathing space for the residents of the nearby destroyed neighborhoods  The Central Park sits in the middle of the neighborhoods of al-Hamidiyah, al-Jubaila, and Souq Deir ez-Zor. All the apartments in these neighborhoods were designed by housing cooperatives, without taking into account the importance of having internal gardens, and the Central Park is considered the only free public space for the residents of these neighborhoods, a refuge for families from the summer heat in their sweltering homes during the hours of electricity rationing in summer, and a shelter from the cold destroyed houses in winter. The random and reckless felling and cutting of trees during the years of ISIS’s siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor During the four years of ISIS’s siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor, the states of chaos led to the cutting of most of the city’s trees for use in heating, due to the complete absence of fuel \u2014 a matter that makes the city in need of preserving the few remaining trees. But the reality is that the trees of the Central Park that survived the felling stand today awaiting the saw, and some of them have already been cut.  Iman al-Alyan, a civil activist and founder of the “Women of Tomorrow” organization, says that working to erect a concrete block on a public space like the Central Park is something no sane person can accept; today Deir ez-Zor is in the most urgent need of public green spaces, and this park is one of the most important of these spaces. The government allows the cutting of the trees and their replacement with reinforced concrete, instead of rehabilitating it and providing it with service facilities and children’s play areas \u2014 the children of Deir ez-Zor were deprived of living their childhood and suffered from the war and its consequences \u2014 along the lines of the parks that exist in other governorates, such as Azadi Park in Qamishli, which the Autonomous Administration rehabilitated, planted with trees, and furnished with cultural sculptures symbolizing the different Syrian governorates, evoking famous landmarks from the various Syrian governorates.” “Mosques are many, whereas parks are rare and un-rehabilitated, and most of them turned into cemeteries during the years of the war”  She adds: “Even if the mosque is built on only a small part of the park, that will restrict the freedom of the park’s visitors, particularly women. The presence of a mosque inside the park will eliminate the privacy of the place and cause the exclusion of women, since women usually frequent the park for the purpose of relaxation, which cannot be achieved with the presence of a mosque and the religious restrictions and the respect for religious spaces that follow from it.”  The primitive oil burners in Deir ez-Zor Imran al-Ali, an oncologist from the city of Deir ez-Zor, says that the city suffers from high rates of tumors and cancer, respiratory diseases, and disabilities because of the effects resulting from years of operating the makeshift burners \u2014 a matter that calls for organizing emergency activities to plant trees in the city, and for dealing with public parks as necessary and urgent spaces, in order to reduce the negative effects of the emissions of the primitive burners and the pollution resulting from the years of war. On the other hand, the scarcity of available, safe, free public spaces for children pushes them to play in an environment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":17302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[379,382],"tags":[422,444],"class_list":["post-17315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-issues","category-our-arab-world","tag-silat_wassel-en","tag-syria-en"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design.png",1366,768,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design.png",1366,768,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design.png",1366,768,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-300x169.png",300,169,true],"large":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-1024x576.png",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design.png",1366,768,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design.png",1366,768,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"\u0634\u064a\u0645\u0627\u0621 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u0636\u0631","author_link":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/author\/shaimaa-al-khodor-2\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Environmental Issues<\/a> Our Arab World<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"In the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, 90% of which was destroyed by the war, and which lost 41% of its population, estimated at 239,196 people, compared to an estimated figure of about (173,727) people in 2024, with a clear change in the demographic makeup, due to the forced migration of its residents,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silatwassel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}