History of the Jews in Syria

Syrian Jews descend from Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria since the time of Roman rule (known as Musta'arabi Jews or more generally as Mizrahi Jews); and from Sephardim, Jews from Spain and Portugal who fled to Syria after the Alhambra Decree forced the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. There were large Jewish communities in Aleppo ("Halabi Jews" or "Aleppo Jews") and Damascus ("Shami Jews") for centuries, and a smaller community in Qamishli on the Turkish border.

Source: Wikipedia — History of the Jews in Syria (CC BY-SA 4.0)