In the original Assassin’s Creed, Damascus is the site of Altaïr’s first major assassination target.
After Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad is demoted for failing a mission in Solomon’s Temple, Al Mualim sends him to Damascus. Altaïr’s first major target is Tamir, a wealthy arms dealer operating in the city’s Poor District. Altaïr gathers information before assassinating Tamir, beginning the sequence of investigations that drives the game’s campaign.
The original game presents Damascus, Jerusalem, and Acre as major cities in the Levant. Each city contains districts, viewpoints, informants, and targets connected to the Assassin-Templar conflict during the Third Crusade. Masyaf, in modern-day Syria, serves as the Assassins’ headquarters rather than the location of that first city assassination.
A common mix-up is Jerusalem, because it is one of the game’s best-known cities and contains later targets. The specific first major target, however, is Tamir in Damascus.