M5 Motorway (Syria)
The M5 Motorway is the most important motorway in Syria due to its length and that it functions as the south-north backbone of the country network. It connects the border with Jordan in the south with Damascus, the capital, and continues further north to Aleppo, the country's second largest city, and on toward the border with Turkey.
Other cities connected by this motorway are Daraa, Al Nabk, Homs and Hama. Its length is. It intersects with the M4 Motorway near Saraqib, which is the main highway from Aleppo to the port of Latakia.Parts of the M5 were 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. 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 Saraqib 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.
