Current view: Text account
Site description (1994 baseline):
Site location and context
A stony, semi-desert plain, c.120 km east of Hamah. Vegetation includes sparse
Pistacia trees and shrub-steppe with
Salsola,
Atriplex and
Artemisia. There is said to be a north-south trending depression at 35°22'N 38°00'E which floods in some winters (extent of water up to c.1,000 ha); although this could not be found on maps, there is an area of sabkhah basins (totalling c.5,000 ha) centred on 35°40'N 37°30'E. There are many small settlements and wells, and cultivation is probably extensive.
See box for key species. Other breeding species include
Pterocles alchata.
Anser albifrons is a winter visitor (1,000) and passage migrant (1,500), and at least c.500 ducks have also been noted in winter.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals: Canis lupus (V). There is a gazelle Gazella captive-breeding and release project.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The site was established as a Enclosed Rangeland Reserve by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform in 1968 to conserve vegetation resources for grazing, and there have since been proposals to designate it as a 'game management area' or nature reserve, with nature conservation as the main management objective. Known threats comprise hunting, overgrazing, fuelwood-gathering and soil erosion.
Data-sheet compiled by Dr Ibrahim Hanna and Dr Amer Majid Agha (translated by S. Zaiane).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Wadi al-Azib (Syria). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/wadi-al-azib-iba-syria on 23/11/2024.
