Aleppo, Syria · UTC+3 ☆

Aleppo is in the Asia/Damascus timezone (UTC+3), the same fixed offset as Damascus and the rest of Syria. One of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, it has a population of around 2 million.

Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on Earth. Archaeological evidence suggests the area may have been inhabited since the sixth millennium BC, placing its origins around 8,000 years ago.[3] The ancient covered souks, the Citadel on its volcanic mound, the network of medieval khans where merchants once lodged, all of these were part of a city whose rhythms were already ancient when the Roman Empire was young.

The clock is UTC+3, fixed year-round. The IANA identifier is Asia/Damascus, shared with the Syrian capital and the rest of the country. Syria abolished daylight saving time in 2022, moving to permanent UTC+3 (which had been the summer DST offset). No seasonal clock changes occur.

Syria had a complicated relationship with daylight saving time for decades. The practice was abolished and reintroduced multiple times in the 20th century. Since 2022, the country has maintained permanent UTC+3 with no further adjustments.

War, destruction, and the old clock

Aleppo has suffered enormously in Syria’s civil war. Significant portions of the historic city center, the souks, the old quarters, were destroyed between 2012 and 2016. Reconstruction is ongoing, but the old rhythms of market days and trading caravans exist now as history, not present reality.

Damascus shares the same timezone, keeping the country’s two major cities synchronized. 9am in Aleppo is 6am in London during European winter, three hours ahead of GMT.

Read more about time in Syria →