Raqqa

Raqqa الرقة
City and nahiyah
Raqqa Raqqa skyline • The Euphrates Raqqa city walls • Baghdad gate Qasr al-Banat Castle • Uwais al-Qarni Mosque
Raqqa Location in Syria
Coordinates: 35°57′00″N 39°01′00″E / 35.95°N 39.0167°E / 35.95; 39.0167Coordinates: 35°57′00″N 39°01′00″E / 35.95°N 39.0167°E / 35.95; 39.0167
Country	Syria
Governorate	Raqqa
District	Raqqa
Founded	244–242 BC
Occupation	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Area
• City	1,962 km2 (758 sq mi)
Elevation	245 m (804 ft)
Population (2004 census)
• City	220,488
• Density	110/km2 (290/sq mi)
• Nahiyah	338,773
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
P-Code	C5710
Area code(s)	22
Geocode	SY110100
Website	www.esyria.sy/eraqqa (Arabic)

Raqqa (Arabic: الرقة‎‎ ar-Raqqah), also called Rakka, al-Raqqah, and ar-Raqqah, is a city in Syria located on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 kilometres (99 miles) east of Aleppo. It is located 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum (now a Latin Catholic titular see) was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. With a population of 220,488 based on the 2004 official census, Raqqa was the sixth largest city in Syria.

During the Syrian Civil War, the city was captured in 2013 by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL went on to make the city its headquarters in Syria in 2014. As a result, the city has been hit by airstrikes from the Syrian government, Russia, the United States and several other countries. Most non-Sunni religious structures in the city have been destroyed by ISIL, most notably the Shi'ite Uwais al-Qarni Mosque.

See below for ecclesiastical history

The area of Raqqa has been inhabited since remote antiquity, as attested by the mounds (tell) of Tall Zaydan and Tall al-Bi'a, the latter identified with the Babylonian city Tuttul.