51�Թ�

In Hirri, a tiny village nestled between the Euphrates River and the border with Iraq, Khalawi pointed to the faded outline of an Islamic State logo on the wall.

US troops also train and equip what Washington sees as moderate Arab and Kurdish forces east of the Euphrates River and at the al-Tanf military base, close to the border with Iraq and Jordan.

In the extreme, they support Israel stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates, and are especially eager for war with Iran.

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which provide most of Iraq’s fresh water, originate in Turkey.

Yet despite the prominence of Dura-Europos in Near Eastern scholarship, there is another city, only some miles down the Euphrates river, that presents a long-neglected opportunity for study.