Wikipedia
Al-Raqqah ( ), also called Rakka, Raqqa and Ar-Raqqah, is a city in Syria located on the north bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The city was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. With a population of 220,488 based on the 2004 official census, al-Raqqah was the sixth largest city in Syria.
During the Syrian Civil War, in 2013, the city was captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL went on to make the city its headquarters in Syria in 2014. As a result, the city has been hit by airstrikes from the Syrian government, Russia, the US, France, Denmark, Jordan, and other Arab nations. Most non-Sunni religious structures in the city have been destroyed by ISIL, most notably the Shi'ite Uwais al-Qarni Mosque.