Raqqa in the context of "Harun al-Rashid"

The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, and Deir ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian civil war, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part.

While entertaining some foreign relations, the region is neither officially recognized as autonomous by the government of Syria, state, or other governments institutions except for the Catalan Parliament. Northeastern Syria is polyethnic and home to sizeable ethnic Arab, Kurdish, and Assyrian populations, with smaller communities of ethnic Turkmen, Armenians, Circassians, and Yazidis.

The battle of Raqqa, also known as the first battle of Raqqa and code named by rebels as the "Raid of the Almighty", was fought for control of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa during the Syrian civil war between Sunni Islamist rebel insurgents and the Syrian Arab Army. Rebel forces launched the offensive in early March 2013, and declared themselves in "near-total control" on 5 March, making it the first provincial capital claimed to come under rebel control in the civil war. The battle, on the opposition side, was primarily led by the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham.

The Treaty of Dara, also known as the Fifty-Year Peace, was a peace treaty concluded between the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) and Sassanid (Persian) empires at the frontier town of Dara in what is now southern Turkey in 562. The treaty, negotiated by Peter the Patrician for the Byzantine emperor Justinian I and Izadgushasp for the Sassanid king Khosrau I ended the 20-year-long war over the Caucasian kingdom of Lazica. The treaty contained 13 articles, and is well-recorded. It covered all parts of the two empires, Persarmenia, Lazica, the client states, and the Arab allies.

The Sassanids undertook to evacuate Lazica, but the status of the neighboring country of Suania was left unclear to become a future source of disagreement. The Sassanids were to receive an annual subsidy of 30,000 gold nomismata, with the first seven years payable immediately. The expenses of the defense lines in the Caucasus against the nomads in the north, for which there was a mutual interest and had been the responsibility of the Sasanians, were included in the payments. Both sides agreed not to establish new fortifications or fortify the existing settlements on the border. To prevent spying, trade was restricted to Callinicum, Nisibis, and Dvin, while traders from other nations were restricted to Dara (under the Byzantines) and Nisibis (under the Sasanians). Refugees were free to return to their homes. In a separate treaty, the Christians in the Sasanian Empire were promised freedom of religion.

The Daysan River (also spelt Daisan and known in Arabic as Al-Jullab or as Daysan) was the name of a perennial river that flowed through the city of Urfa (historically called Edessa and known in Arabic and Syriac as al-Ruha') in the Arabian Plate.

A combination of 25 streams, it ran through Urfa and Harran (ancient Carrhae) before joining the Balikh river (also spelt Belichas), one of the largest tributaries to the Euphrates, at ancient Dabanas (modern Dibni) in Raqqa in the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests ecoregion. Today it runs dry before reaching the Balikh, and numerous dried-up wells in the old city of Harran suggest that the water table may have been significantly higher in the past.

Al-Tabqah (Arabic: ٱلطَّبْقَة, romanized: aṭ-Ṭabaqah, Kurdish: Tebqa), is a city in Raqqa Governorate, Syria, approximately 55 kilometres (34 mi) west of Raqqa. Until the 1960s it had been a relatively small settlement. The city had a population of 69,425 as of the 2004 census. It is part of the Tabqa Region of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

The Numayrids (Arabic: النميريون) were an Arab dynasty based in Diyar Mudar (western Upper Mesopotamia). They were emirs (princes) of their namesake tribe, the Banu Numayr. The senior branch of the dynasty, founded by Waththab ibn Sabiq in 990, ruled the Euphrates cities of Harran, Saruj and Raqqa more or less continuously until the late 11th century. In the early part of Waththab's reign (r. 990–1019), the Numayrids also controlled Edessa until the Byzantines conquered it in the early 1030s. In 1062, the Numayrids lost Raqqa to their distant kinsmen and erstwhile allies, the Mirdasids, while by 1081, their capital Harran and nearby Saruj were conquered by the Turkish Seljuks and their Arab Uqaylid allies. Numayrid emirs continued to hold isolated fortresses in Upper Mesopotamia, such as Qal'at an-Najm and Sinn Ibn Utayr near Samosata until the early 12th century, but nothing is heard of them after 1120.

As Bedouin (nomadic Arabs), most Numayrid emirs avoided settled life in the cities they controlled; rather, they ruled their emirates (principalities) from their tribal encampments in the countryside, while entrusting administration of the cities to their ghilmān (military slaves). An exception was Emir Mani' ibn Shabib (r. ca. 1044–1063), under whom the Numayrids reached their territorial peak. Mani' resided inside Harran, transforming its Sabian temple into an ornate, fortified palace. The Numayrids were Shia Muslims and initially recognized the religious sovereignty of the Sunni Muslim Abbasid Caliphate, at least nominally, but later switched allegiance to the Shia Fatimid Caliphate after the latter extended its influence into northern Syria in 1037. By 1060, they likely reverted to Abbasid suzerainty.