The Bridge At Deir Ez-Zor

This is the bridge at Deir ez-Zor, Syria, over the Euphrates river taken sometime in 2006-2009 by two Canadian bikers.
Deir-ez-Zor: Notes For Bike Tourists
http://travellingtwo.com/resources/syria/deir-ez-zor


Recently it has been in the middle of the war.
http://en.abna24.com/cultural/archive/2016/05/17/754848/story.html

AhlulBayt News Agency - Deir ez-Zor province in eastern Syria includes the three cities of the capital Deir ez-Zor, Al-Mayadin and AL-Bukamal. Over 90 percent of the territory of Deir ez-Zor was seized by ISIS terrorist group in mid-December 2014. It is located between Raqqa, the self-acclaimed capital of ISIS terrorists in Syria, and other ISIS-held areas in the neighboring Iraq. ISIS has one of the most significant sources of income now that it holds a majority of the province’s oilfields and produces and sells oil. Meanwhile, the forces of the government of President Bashar al-Assad still hold control of Deir ez-Zor’s center and also its airport.

During the past two years, Deir ez-Zor witnessed limited clashes between the Syrian armed forces and the terrorists of ISIS, but ISIS’ militants failed to usurp control of the remaining areas of the city from the Syrian forces.

Since August 2015, Deir ez-Zor has been under the tight siege of the ISIS fighters, with over 200,000 Syrian civilians in the city are now trapped in encirclement. The Russian and Syrian planes regularly airdrop aid facilities and food crates to the civilians trapped in some parts of Deir ez-Zor as the only way of access to the besieged city.

Recently, especially since May 7, 2016, ISIS terrorists launched a new wave of efforts, aiming at capturing what remained of Deir ez-Zor province. During the initial assaults, they managed to take control of the whole roads leading to the airport, al-Thayem Oil Refinery and a couple of districts inside the capital city...

This photo of the bridge at night ran with the story about the fight with ISIS. The name of the town has been misspelled;   you can have some leaway with the definite article "al" and the word "zor":
al zor, az-zor, el-zor, ez-zor, ezzor, even ezor, I suppose, although that single "z" would be quite wrong.
It seems to be a photo from quieter times.

The world never seems to have gotten over World War I and its aftermath, thinking Sykes-Picot Agreement here, although the 1917 Balfour Declaration has also had its place.
The results of WWI led to WWII. WWII led to a continuous Cold War, and that has led to a state of constant war, a ceaseless questing for supremacy by the sole superpower.

If you recall during the Bush years, we also claimed the infinity of Space.

--