Abu Rummaneh is an upscale neighborhood west of Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. The quarter is centered around the palm-tree-lined Abu Rummaneh boulevard, known officially as al-Jalaa Boulevard, named for the evacuation of French mandate troops from Syria. The neighborhood serves as Damascus' diplomatic quarter, also housing the Arab Cultural Center and the French Institute for Arab Studies (IFEAD). The smaller streets on either side of the boulevard are lined by expensive, old-money apartment buildings, owned by wealthy Damascenes.