Syrian Desert

In the Syrian steppe northeast of Palmyra stands Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, a fortified complex amid the desert. An inscription records the construction of its larger enclosure in 728–729 under the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. Its walls enclosed a mosque and dwellings, and a canal brought water from al-Kum. In 1638 the Ottoman sultan Murad IV ordered the complex destroyed, fearing that it sheltered rebels.