Qara, Syria

Qara or Kara (Arabic: قارة) is a Syrian city in the An-Nabek District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate. It is located between the Qalamoun Mountains and the Eastern Lebanon mountains range, north of the capital Damascus on the road to the city of Homs. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Qara had a population of 12,508 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are mostly Sunni Muslims and Greek Orthodox and Catholic Christians.