Car rental is in its infancy in Syria and roads and routes can be confusing, with signs often only written in Arabic, wrong, or missing altogether. Some travel companies stopped renting cars to foreigners due to problems like driving into forbidden areas that are only signposted as such in Arabic. Therefore, it's good to consider simply hiring a driver for a day or a longer trip, as the costs are relatively modest - or else brushing up on your Arabic road sign reading and checkpoint negotiation skills.