[5] The land is open, rocky or gravelly desert pavement, cut with occasional wadis, or river valleys, generally dry riverbeds.

[6][7][8][1] The desert is bounded by the Orontes Valley and the volcanic field of Harrat al-Shamah to the west, and by the Euphrates to the east.

[15] Some of the climax plants in the Syrian Badia are Caroxylon vermiculatum, Stipa barbata, Artemisia herba-alba and Atriplex leucoclada.

Some native animals no longer inhabit this area, and many plant species have died out while grasses with a lower nutritional value to livestock have replaced them.

One of the most important ancient settlements in the Syrian desert is Palmyra; first mentioned in the second millennium BC, the city was an important trading center in Roman times, and its people were renowned merchants who took advantage of its strategic position on the Silk Road linking the Far East to the Mediterranean Sea, by taxing caravans that were passing by, establishing colonies on the silk road, and trading in the rare commodities from the far east, thus bringing enormous wealth to their city.

[19] During the Ottoman Empire's Armenian genocide, large numbers of victims were deported across the Euphrates River into the desert to die.

By September 2006, the resistance had gained control of virtually all of the Anbar Governorate and had moved most of their forces, equipment and leaders further east to resistance-controlled cities near the Euphrates river.

Starting in December 2016 and throughout 2017, several campaigns successfully retook the entire region from the terrorist group, leaving only sporadic skirmishes.

Bedouin herdsmen, many of whom are still nomadic, graze about twelve million sheep and goats here, as well as a smaller number of camels.