Syrian barrage set to defend area (9)
I believe the answer is:
damascene
'syrian' is the definition.
(Damascene is an example)
'barrage set to defend area' is the wordplay.
'barrage' becomes 'dam' (barrage can mean a dam).
'set' becomes 'scene' (scene is a kind of set).
'to defend' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'dam'+'scene'='damscene'
'damscene' going around 'a' is 'DAMASCENE'.
(Other definitions for damascene that I've seen before include "in Arab city" , "Middle Eastern" , "gold inlay" , "of very ancient city" , "Middle Easterner" .)