The ''M5 Motorway'' is the most important motorway in Syria due to its length and function as the country network's south-north backbone. It is known as the "International Road." It connects the border with Jordan in the south with Damascus, the country's political capital, and continues further north through Aleppo, the country's economic capital and second largest city, to the border with Turkey in the north. Other cities connected by this motorway are

Daraa Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jord ...

, Al Nabk, Homs and

Hama Hama ( ar, حَمَاة ', ; syr, ܚܡܬ, ħ(ə)mɑθ, lit=fortress; Biblical Hebrew: ''Ḥamāṯ'') is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provinci ...

. Its length is . It intersects with the

M4 Motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

near

Saraqib Saraqib ( ar, سَرَاقِب, Sarāqib also spelled Saraqeb) is a city in northwestern Syria, administratively belonging to the Idlib Governorate, located east of Idlib. During the course of the Syrian Civil War, the city fell into rebel force ...

, which is the main highway from Aleppo to the port of

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

running parallel to the border with Turkey.

Syrian Civil War

Parts of the M5 have been in the control of various rebel groups in the Syrian Civil War since 2012. In October 2019, the north of the highway became a warzone, as Turkish-backed Syrian rebel forces advanced into the Kurdish-controlled region of

Rojava The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Ma ...

. Civilians had been killed near the motorway. Turkish media also reported that it was the goal of Turkey's Operation Peace Spring to reach the M4 junction with the M5 in the Turkish occupation of northern Syria. On 14 February 2020, the Syrian Army recaptured the M5 Motorway fully for the first time since 2012 before opposition factions and Turkish forces recaptured

by 26 February and cut the highway once again on 27 February. On 1 March, Saraqib was back under Syrian Army control and also regained control of the entire motorway by 3 March. On 8 March 2020, the M5 highway was reopened for civilian use.

References

{{reflist Roads in Syria

Syrian Civil War

See also

References