Syria

Syria - Wikipedia
Features information on the history, politics, economy, demographics, culture, and geography of the Syrian Arab Republic.
en.wikipedia.org

Syria - World Factbook
Includes information on the geography, economy, and government of Syria, as well as a country map. From the CIA.
www.cia.gov

Syria (05/07)
Facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, foreign relations of Syria. ... Ba'ath takeover in Syria followed a Ba'ath ...
www.state.gov

Syria
This supersedes the Travel Warning for Syria issued on September 18, 2007. ... In addition, other extremist groups are present in Syria. ...
travel.state.gov

Syria Daily
Offering daily news and analysis of current events in Syria and the Middle East.
www.syriadaily.com

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{{Infobox Country or territory|native_name = |conventional_long_name = Syrian Arab Republic|common_name = Syria|image_flag = Flag_of_Syria.svg‎|image_coat = COA of Syria.svg|image_map = LocationSyria.svg|national_anthem = Homat el DiyarGuardians of the Land]|demonym = Syrian|capital = Damascus [republic|leader_name1 = [Bashar al-Assad|leader_name2 = [Muhammad Naji Etri-->|percent_water = 0.06|population_estimate = 20,314,747|population_estimate_rank = 55th|population_estimate_year = July 2007|population_census =|population_census_year =|population_density_km2 = 103|population_density_sq_mi = 267 |sovereignty_note = from France [1944 [1946|currency_code = SYP|country_code =|time_zone = [Eastern European Time|utc_offset = +2|time_zone_DST = Eastern European Summer Time|utc_offset_DST = +3|cctld = .sy, not ratified by France.-->Syria ( or ), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: ), is a country in [Southwest Asia, bordering the Mediterranean Sea and Lebanon to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. The modern state of Syria was formerly a French Mandate of Syria and attained independence in 1946, but can trace its roots to the fourth millennium BC; its capital city, Damascus, was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk.

Syria has a population of 19.3 million. Syria CIA - The World Fact Book. May 31, 2007. Retrieved 2007, June 13. The majority are Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims at 74% of the population. Other Muslim groups include Alawites 11%, Druze and other Muslim sects 5%. There are also various Christianity in Syria sects constituting 10% of the total population. Syria Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 2007, June 13. Since 1963 the country has been governed by the Baath Party; the head of state since 1970 has been a member of the Assad family. Syria's current President is Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, who held office from 1970 until his death in 2000. Baath Party The Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition 2001–05. Retrieved 2007, June 13.Historically, Syria has often included the territories of Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and parts of Jordan, but excluded the Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia region in the north-east of the modern Syrian state. In this historic sense, the region is also known as Greater Syria or by the Arabic name Bilad al-Sham (). The Syrian Government has relinquished its claim over the region of İskenderun, now part of the Turkish province of Hatay Province. The area used to be part of Syria, but Damascus agreed to recognise Turkish sovereignty as part of a peace deal within the last decade. In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria.Pipes, Daniel. Is the Hatay Problem Solved? Daniel Pipes Blog. January 10, 2005. Retrieved 2007, June 13.

Etymology The name Syria derives from the ancient Greek name Syrians, , which the Greeks called the Assyrian people.In Herodotus The Histories 7.63 It is likely a cognate of , , ultimately derived from the Akkadian language .First proposed by Theodor Nöldeke in 1881; cf. .There have been alternative proposals, but academic mainstream favours the connection. The question has a certain importance in the Assyrian naming dispute.

Classically, Syria lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the north, stretching inland to include Mesopotamia, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene, "formerly known as Assyria". By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent from each other): Judaea, later renamed Palestina (region) in AD 135 (the region corresponding to modern day Palestine and Israel, and Jordan) in the extreme southwest, Phoenicia corresponding to Lebanon, with Damascena to the inland side of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") south of the An Nahr al Kabir, and Mesopotamia.

History This article deals with the history of Syria, and the nations previously occupying its territory.

Eblan civilization Archaeologists have demonstrated that the civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth. Around the excavated city of Ebla in northern Syria, discovered in 1975, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 B.C. Ebla appears to have been founded around 3000 BC, and gradually built its empire through trade with the cities of Sumer and Akkad, as well as with peoples to the northwest. Gifts from Pharaoh, found during excavations, confirm Ebla's contact with Ancient Egypt. Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be among the oldest known written Semitic languages, designated as Paleo-Canaanite. The Eblan civilization was likely conquered by Sargon of Akkad around 2260 BC; the city was restored, as the nation of the Amorites, a few centuries later, and flourished through the early second millennium BC until conquered by the Hittites.

Syria in antiquity , Roman Emperor -detail of Syrian 100 pound noteDuring the second millennium BC, Syria was occupied successively by Canaanites, Phoenicians, and Arameans as part of the general disruptions and exchanges associated with the Sea Peoples. The Hebrews eventually settled south of Damascus, in the areas later known as Israel and Judah; the Phoenicians settled along the coast of Israel, as well as in the west (Lebanon), which was already known for its cedars. Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyrian people, Babylonians and Hittites variously occupied the strategic ground of Syria during this period; the land between their various empires being marsh. Eventually, the Achaemenid took Syria as part of their hegemony of Southwest Asia; this dominion was transferred to the Ancient Macedonians after Alexander the Great's conquests and, thence, to the Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire.

In the Roman period, the great city of Antioch (called the Athens of the East at that time) was the capital of Syria and one of the largest cities in the world, with a total estimated population of 500,000. Antioch was one of the major centres of trade and industry in the ancient world. The population of Syria, during the Early Roman Empire, was only exceeded in the 19th Century; this, along with its vast wealth, made Syria, in its heyday, one of the most important of the Roman provinces.

In the 3rd century Syria was home to Elagabalus, a Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222. Elagabalus's family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the sun god El-Gabal, of whom Elagabalus was the high priest at Emesa (modern Homs) in Syria.

Early Christian and Islamic history Syria is significant in the history of Christianity; Saul of Tarsus was converted on the Road to Damascus, thereafter being known as the Apostle Paul, and established the first organized Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria, from which he left on many of his missionary journeys.

In the 7th century, Syria was conquered by the Arabs, so the area was part of the Islamic empire. In the mid 7th century, the Umayyad dynasty, then rulers of the empire, placed the capital in Damascus. However, rival factions within the empire disputed the Umayyad right to rule, based on their place in the line of succession from Mohammad, resulting in a civil war and their overthrow by the Abbasid dynasty, who moved the capital to Baghdad.

Sections of the coastline of Syria were briefly held by Frankish overlords during the Crusades in the 12th century, and were known as the Crusader state of the Principality of Antioch. The area was also threatened by the Shiite extremists known as the Assassins. In 1260, the Mongols arrived, led by Hulegu with an army 100,000 strong, destroying cities and irrigation works. Aleppo fell in January 1260, and Damascus in March, but then Hulegu needed to break off his attack to return to China to deal with a succession dispute. The command of the remaining Mongol troops was placed under Kitbugha, a Christian Mongol. A few months later, the Mamluks arrived with an army from Egypt, and defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ayn Jalut, in Galilee. The Mamluk leader, Baybars, made his capitals in Cairo and Damascus, linked by a mail service that traveled by both horses and carrier pigeons. When Baybars died, his successor was overthrown, and power was taken by a Turk named Qalawun. In the meantime, an emir named Sunqur al-Ashqar had tried to declare himself ruler of Damascus, but he was defeated by Qalawun on June 21, 1280, and fled to northern Syria. Al-Ashqar, who had married a Mongol woman, appealed for help from the Mongols, and in 1281, they arrived with an army of 50,000 Mongols, and 30,000 Armenian, Georgian, and Turkish auxiliaries, along with Al-Ashqar's rebel force. The Mongols took the city, but Qalawun arrived with a Mamluk force, persuaded Al-Ashqar to switch sides and join him, and they fought against the Mongols on October 29, 1281, in the Battle of Homs, a close battle which resulted in the death of the majority of the combatants, but was finally won by the Mamluks.Timeframe pp. 59-75

In 1400, Timur, or Tamerlane, invaded Syria, sacked Aleppo and captured Damascus after defeating the Mamluk army. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Battle of Aleppo The Eastern Mediterranean, 1400–1600 A.D.

By the end of the 15th century, the discovery of a sea route from Europe to the Far East ended the need for an overland trade route through Syria. Shattered by the Mongols, Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th through 20th centuries, and found itself largely apart from, and ignored by, world affairs.

Fighting along the side of Germany during World War I, plans to dissolve this great Ottoman territory could now begin. Two allied diplomats (Frenchman François Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes) secretly agreed, long before the end of the war, how to split the Ottoman Empire into several zone of influence. The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 set the faith of modern Middle East for the coming century; providing France with the northern zone (Syria, with later the upcoming Lebanon), and the United Kingdom with the southern one (Jordan, Iraq and later, after renegotiations in 1917, Palestine - 'to secure daily transportation of troops from Haifa to Baghdad' - agreement n° 7). The two territories were only separated with a straight border line from Jordan to Iran. But early discoveries of oil in the region of Mosul just before to end of the war led to yet another negotiation with France in 1918 to cede this region to 'Zone B', or the British zone of influence. The borders between the 'Zone A' and 'Zone B' have not change from 1918 to this date. In 1920, the two sides have been recognized internationally under mandate of the League of Nations by the two dominant countries; France and the United Kingdom.

French occupation in 1936. From left to right: Saadallah al-Jabiri, Jamil Mardam Bey, Hashim al-Atassi (signing), and French Prime Minister Léon Blum.In 1920, an independent Arab Kingdom of Syria was established under Faisal I of the Hashemite family, who later became the King of Iraq. However, his rule over Syria ended after only a few months, following the clash between his Syrian Arab forces and regular French forces at the Battle of Maysalun. French troops occupied Syria later that year after the League of Nations put Syria under French mandate. Syria and France negotiated a Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence (1936) in September of 1936, and Hashim al-Atassi, who was Prime Minister under King Faisal's brief reign, was the first president to be elected under a new constitution, effectively the first incarnation of the modern republic of Syria. However, France reneged on the treaty and refused to ratify it. With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of the Vichy France until the United Kingdom and Free French Syria-Lebanon campaign in July 1941. Syria proclaimed its independence again in 1941 but it wasn't until January 1, 1944 that it was recognised as an independent republic. On February 26 1945 Syria declared war on Germany and Japan. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalist groups and British pressure forced the French to evacuate their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate.

Instability and foreign relations: independence to 1967 Although rapid economic development followed the declaration of independence, Syrian politics from independence through the late 1960s was marked by upheaval. Between 1946 and 1956, Syria had 20 different cabinets and drafted four separate constitutions. In 1948, Syria was involved in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, intervening on the side of the Palestinians and attempting to prevent the establishment of Israel. The Syrian army was pressed out of most of the Israel area, but fortified their strongholds on the Golan Heights and managed to keep their old borders and some additional territory (this was converted into demilitarized zones under UN supervision, but then gradually seized by Israel in the inter-war years; the status of these territories have proved a stumbling-block for Syrian-Israeli negotiations). However, the economy was strained by the influx of more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees.

The humiliating defeat suffered by the army was one of several trigger factors for Col. Husni al-Za'im's seizure of power in 1949, in what has been described as the first military coup d'état of the Arab world. This was soon followed by a new coup, by Col. Sami al-Hinnawi, who was then himself quickly deposed by Col. Adib Shishakli, all within the same year. After exercising influence behind the scenes for some time, dominating the ravaged parliamentary scene, Shishakli launched a second coup in 1951, entrenching his rule and eventually abolishing multipartyism altogether. Only when president Shishakli was himself overthrown in a 1954 coup, was the parliamentary system restored, but it was fundamentally undermined by continued political maneuvering supported by competing factions in the military. By this time, civilian politics had been largely gutted of meaning, and power was increasingly concentrated in the military and security establishment, which had now proven itself to be the only force capable of seizing and -- perhaps -- keeping power. Parliamentary institutions remained weak and ineffectual, dominated by competing parties representing the landowning elites and various Sunni urban notables, while economy and politics were mismanaged, and little done to better the role of Syria's peasant majority. This, as well as the influence of Nasserism and other anti-colonial ideologies, created fertile ground for various Arab nationalist, Syrian nationalism and socialist movements, who represented disaffected elements of society, notably including the religious minorities, and demanded radical reform.

During the Suez Crisis of 1956, after the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli troops, and the intervention of British and French troops, martial law was declared in Syria. The November 1956 attacks on Iraqi pipelines were in retaliation for Iraq's acceptance into the Baghdad Pact. In early 1957 Iraq advised Egypt and Syria against a conceivable takeover of Jordan.

In November 1956 Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union, providing a foothold for Communist influence within the government in exchange for planes, tanks, and other military equipment being sent to Syria. With this increase in the strength of Syrian military technology worried Turkey, as it seemed feasible that Syria might attempt to retake Iskenderun, a formerly Syrian city now in Turkey. On the other hand, Syria and the U.S.S.R. accused Turkey of massing its troops at the Syrian border. During this standoff, Communists gained more control over the Syrian government and military. Only heated debates in the United Nations (of which Syria was an original member) lessened the threat of war.

Syria's political instability during the years after the 1954 coup, the parallelism of Syrian and Egyptian policies, and the appeal of Egyptian President Gamal Abdal Nasser's leadership in the wake of the Suez crisis created support in Syria for union with Egypt. On February 1, 1958, Syrian president Fadi Salman Orfaly and Nasser announced the merging of the two countries, creating the United Arab Republic, and all Syrian political parties, as well as the Communists therein, ceased overt activities.

The union was not a success, however. Following a military coup on September 28, 1961, Syria seceded, reestablishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Instability characterised the next 18 months, with various coups culminating on March 8, 1963, in the installation by leftist Syrian Army officers of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority. The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (Baath Party), which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s. The new cabinet was dominated by Baath members.

The Baath takeover in Syria followed a Baath coup in Iraq the previous month. The new Syrian Government explored the possibility of federation with Egypt and with Baath-controlled Iraq. An agreement was concluded in Cairo on April 17, 1963, for a referendum on unity to be held in September 1963. However, serious disagreements among the parties soon developed, and the tripartite federation failed to materialize. Thereafter, the Baath regimes in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity. These plans foundered in November 1963, when the Baath regime in Iraq was overthrown. In May 1964, President Amin Hafiz of the NCRC promulgated a provisional constitution providing for a National Council of the Revolution (NCR), an appointed legislature composed of representatives of mass organisations—labour, peasant, and professional unions—a presidential council, in which executive power was vested, and a cabinet. On February 23, 1966, a group of army officers carried out a successful, intra-party coup, imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the cabinet and the NCR, abrogated the provisional constitution, and designated a regionalist, civilian Baath government on March 1. The coup leaders described it as a "rectification" of Baath Party principles.

Six Day War and Aftermath The new government generally aligned itself with the hawkish Nasser in intra-Arab conflicts over how hard of a line to take against Israel. When Nasser closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Eilat-bound ships, the Baath regime supported the Egyptian leader, amassed troops in the strategic Golan Heights, and joined the clamor for the elimination of the Jewish state. Despite these aggressive moves, the Syrian regime was largely inactive when Israel launched a preemptive strike on Egypt to begin the Six-Day War. In the final days of the war, after having captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, Israel turned its attention to Syria. With a U.N. mandated cease-fire fast approaching, Israel invaded and captured the entire Golan Heights in under 48 hours. The war was widely viewed as a humiliating defeat for the radical socialist regime established by the 1966 coup.

Conflict developed between an extremist military wing and a more moderate civilian wing of the Baath Party. The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the PLO during the "Black September in Jordan" hostilities with Jordan reflected this political disagreement within the ruling Baath leadership. By November 13, 1970, Minister of Defense Hafez al-Assad was solidly established as the strongman of the regime, when he effected a bloodless military coup ("Corrective Revolution") which ousted his rival, Salah Jadid.

Baath Party rule under Hafez al-Assad, 1970–2000 Upon assuming power, Hafez al-Assad moved quickly to create an organizational infrastructure for his government and to consolidate control. The Provisional Regional Command of Assad's Arab Baath Socialist Party nominated a 173-member legislature, the People's Council, in which the Baath Party took 87 seats. The remaining seats were divided among "popular organizations" and other minor parties. In March 1971, the party held its regional congress and elected a new 21-member Regional Command headed by Assad. In the same month, a national referendum was held to confirm Assad as President for a 7-year term. In March 1972, to broaden the base of his government, Assad formed the National Progressive Front, a coalition of parties led by the Baath Party, and elections were held to establish local councils in each of Syria's 14 governorates. In March 1973, a new Syrian constitution went into effect followed shortly thereafter by parliamentary elections for the People's Council, the first such elections since 1962.

On October 6 1973, Syria and Egypt began the Yom Kippur War by staging a surprise attack against Israel (Arabs call it the "Ramadan War" or "October War" because Syria and Egypt attacked during Ramadan in the month of October). But despite the element of surprise, the war was undecided , and Israel continued to occupy the Golan Heights as part of the Israeli-occupied territories.In early 1976, the Lebanese civil war was going poorly for the Maronite Christians. Syria sent 40,000 troops into the country to prevent them from being overrun, but soon became embroiled in the Lebanese Civil War, beginning the 30 year Syrian presence in Lebanon. Over the following 15 years of civil war, Syria fought both for control over Lebanon, and as an attempt to undermine Israel in southern Lebanon, through extensive use of Lebanese allies as proxy fighters. Many see the Military of Syria presence in Lebanon as an Military occupation, especially following the end of the civil war in 1990, after the Syrian-sponsored Taif Agreement. Syria then remained in Lebanon until 2005, exerting a heavy-handed influence over Lebanese politics, that was deeply resented by many.

About one million Syrian workers came into Lebanon after the war ended to find jobs in the reconstruction of the country. Syrian workers were preferred over Palestinian and Lebanese workers because they could be paid lower wages, but some have argued that the Syrian government's encouragement of citizens entering its small and militarily dominated neighbour in search of work, was in fact an attempt at Syrian colonization of Lebanon. Now, the economies of Syria and Lebanon are completely interdependent. In 1994, under pressure from Damascus, the Lebanese government controversially granted citizenship to over 200,000 Syrians resident in the country. (For more on these issues, see Demographics of Lebanon)

The authoritarian regime was not without its critics, though most were quickly murdered. A serious challenge arose in the late 1970s, however, from fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, who reject the basic values of the secular Baath program and object to rule by the Alawis, whom they consider heretical. From 1976 until its suppression in 1982, the arch-conservative Muslim Brotherhood led an armed insurgency against the regime. In response to an attempted uprising by the brotherhood in February 1982, the government crushed the fundamentalist opposition centered in the city of Hama, leveling parts of the city with artillery fire and causing many thousands of dead and wounded. Since then, public manifestations of anti-regime activity have been very limited.

Syria's 1990 participation in the U.S.-led multinational coalition aligned against Saddam Hussein marked a dramatic watershed in Syria's relations both with other Arab states and with the Western world. Syria participated in the multilateral Madrid Conference of 1991 in Madrid in October 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in direct, face-to-face negotiations with Israel. These negotiations failed, and there have been no further Syrian-Israeli talks since President Hafiz al-Assad's meeting with then President Bill Clinton in Geneva in March 2000.

21st century of Syria.Hafiz al-Assad died on June 10, 2000, after 30 years in power. Immediately following al-Assad's death, the Parliament amended the constitution, reducing the mandatory minimum age of the President from 40 to 34, which allowed his son, Bashar al-Assad, to become legally eligible for nomination by the ruling Baath party. On July 10, 2000, Bashar al-Assad was elected President by referendum in which he ran unopposed, garnering 97.29% of the vote, according to Syrian government statistics.

On October 5, 2003, Israel bombed a site near Damascus, charging it was a terrorism training facility for members of Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.The raid was in retaliation for the bombing of a restaurant in the Israeli town of Haifa that killed 19. Islamic Jihad said the camp was not in use; Syria said the attack was on a civilian area.

The Israeli action was widely condemned.The German Chancellor said it "cannot be accepted" and the French Foreign Ministry said "The Israeli operation… constituted an unacceptable violation of international law and sovereignty rules."The Spanish UN Ambassador Inocencio Arias called it an attack of "extreme gravity" and "a clear violation of international law."However, the United States moved closer to imposing sanctions on Syria, following the adoption of the Syria Accountability Act by the House of Representatives International Relations committee.

Syrian Kurds protest in Brussels, Geneva, in Germany at the US and UK embassies and in Turkey, against violence in north-east Syria starting Friday, March 12, and reportedly extending over the weekend resulting in several deaths, according to reports. The Kurds allege the Syrian government encouraged and armed the attackers. Signs of rioting was seen in the towns of Qameshli and Hassakeh.

Governorates and districts Syria has fourteen governorates, or muhafazat (singular: muhafazah). The governorates are divided into sixty districts, or manatiq (sing. mintaqah), which are further divided into sub-districts, or nawahi (sing. nahia).

A governor, whose appointment is proposed by the minister of the interior, approved by the cabinet, and announced by executive decree, heads each governorate. The governor is assisted by an elected provincial council. Note that parts that used to be under the Quneitra governorate are under Israeli control since 1967 (see Golan Heights). Major cities Damascus - Aleppo - Latakia - Homs

Minor cities Al-Hasakah - Deir ez-Zor - Ar-Raqqah - Idlib - Daraa -As-Suwayda - Tartus- Hama

Towns Al Qamishli - Nawa - Ar-Rastan - Masyaf - Safita - Jableh - Ath-Thawrah - Duma, Syria - Baniyas - An-Nabk- Qusair - Maaloula - Zabadani - Bosra - Jaramana - At-Tall - Salamieh

Major villages Kafr Buhum - Albaida, Syria - Marmarita - Mashta Al helou- Rhablee - Sirghaya - Fairouzeh - Zaidal

Geography Syria consists mostly of arid plateau, although the northwest part of the country bordering the Mediterranean is fairly green. The Northeast of the country "Al Jazira" and the South "Hawran" are important agricultural areas. The Euphrates, Syria's most important river, crosses the country in the east. It is considered to be one of the fifteen states that comprise the so-called "Cradle of Civilization".

Major cities include the capital Damascus in the southwest, Aleppo in the north, and Homs. Most of the other important cities are located along the coast line (see List of cities in Syria).

The climate in Syria is dry and hot, and winters are mild. Because of the country's elevation, snowfall does occasionally occur during winter.Petroleum in commercial quantities was first discovered in the northeast in 1956. The most important oil fields are those of Suwaydiyah, Qaratshui, Rumayian, and Tayyem, near Dayr az–Zawr. The fields are a natural extension of the Iraqi fields of Mosul and Kirkuk. Petroleum became Syria's leading natural resource and chief export after 1974. Natural gas was discovered at the field of Jbessa in 1940.

Demographics Most people live in the Euphrates River valley and along the coastal plain, a fertile strip between the coastal mountains and the desert. Overall population density is about 258 per square mile (99/km²). Education is free and compulsory from ages 6 to 11. Schooling consists of 6 years of primary education followed by a 3-year general or vocational training period and a 3-year academic or vocational program. The second 3-year period of academic training is required for university admission. Total enrollment at post-secondarys is over 150,000. The literacy of Syrians aged 15 and older is 86% for males and 73.6% for females.

Ethnic groups family, 1893.Arabs (including some 400,000 Palestinian refugees) make up over 90% of the population. The Kurdish people, linguistically an Indo-European people, constitute the largest ethnic minority, making up about 9% of the population. Most Kurds reside in the northeast corner of Syria and many still speak the Kurdish language. Sizable Kurdish communities live in most major Syrian cities as well. The Assyrian people Christians are also a notable minority (about 3%) that live in north and northeast Syria. Syria also holds the Armenian diaspora. In addition, more than 1.5 million Refugees of Iraq are living in Syria as of September 11, 2007. Syrian visa rules close escape route for Iraqis-UN

Ethnic Syrians today are an overall Semitic Levantine people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history — they are in fact a blend of the various ancient Semitic groups indigenous to the region who in turn admixed with Arab settlers and immigrants who arrived following the Arab expansion. There is also a smaller degree of admixture from non-Semitic peoples that have occupied the region over time.

Syrians have also migrated heavily to the Americas notably to Brazil. The Arabs of Brazil Arabs Making Their Mark in Latin America

Religion Syria's population is approximately 90% Muslim and 10% Christian, though due to the high stream of refugees from Iraq the percentage of Christians has risen perhaps to almost just under 12% (Muslim refugees are numerous as well). Among Muslims, 74% are Sunni; the rest are divided among other Muslim sects, mainly Alawis (accounting for 10% of the total population) and Druze (6%), but also a small number of non-Druze Isma'ili and Twelver Shi'a, which has increased dramatically due to the influx of Iraqi refugees.

Christians, a sizable number of which are also found among Syrian Palestinians, are divided into several groups. Council of Chalcedon Antiochian Orthodox Church ("Greek Orthodox"; , ) make up 50–55% of the Christian population; the Roman Catholics (Latin Rite, Armenian Catholic Church, Maronite Church, Chaldean Assyrians, Melkite Greek Catholic Church and Syriac Assyrians) make up 18%; the Syriac Assyrians, Nestorian Assyrians and Armenian Apostolic Church and several smaller Christians groups account for the remainder. Many Christian Syrians belong to a high socio-economic class.

Syria also has a tiny population of Jews, confined mainly to Damascus, remnants of a formerly 40,000 strong community. After the 1947 UN Partition plan, pogroms against the Jews erupted in Damascus and Aleppo, and Jewish property was confiscated or burned. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, many History of the Jews in Syria sought refuge there. Of the remaining 5,000 Jews, 4,000 left in the 1990s, in the wake of an agreement with the United States. As of 2007, the Jewish community has dwindled to less than 70 Jews, most of them elderly.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/syrianjews.html

Languages Arabic is the official and most widely spoken language. Kurdish language is widely spoken in the Kurdish people regions of Syria. Many educated Syrians also speak English language or French language, but English is more widely understood. Armenian language and Turkmen language are spoken among the Armenians and Turkmen people minorities. Aramaic language, the lingua franca of the region before the advent of Islam and Arabic language, is spoken among certain ethnic groups: as Syriac language, it is used as the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity; modern Aramaic (particularly, Turoyo language and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic) is spoken in Al Jazira, Mesopotamia region. Most remarkably, Western Neo-Aramaic is still spoken in the village of Ma`loula, and two neighbouring villages, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Damascus.

Education in Syria The educational system in Syria was based on the old French system.Education is free in all public schools and obligatory up to the 9th grade. Schools are divided into three levels:

1st to 4th grade: Basic Education Level I ()
5th to 9th grade: Basic Education Level II ()
10th to 12th grade: Secondary Education (), which is the equivalent of High School.

Final exams of the 9th grade are carried out nationally at the same time. The result of these exams determines if the student goes to the "general" secondary schools or the technical secondary schools. Technical secondary schools include industrial and agricultural schools for male students, crafts school for female students, and commercial and computer science schools for both.

At the beginning of the 11th grade, those who go to "general" secondary school have to choose to continue their study in either the "literary branch" or the "scientific branch".

The final exams of the 12th grade (the baccalaureate) are also carried out nationally and at the same time. The result of these exams determines which university, college and specialization the student goes to. To do that the student has to apply through a complicated system called Mufadalah.

Colleges charge modest fees ($10–20 a year) if the student achieves the sufficient marks in his Baccalaureate exams. If not, the student may opt to pay higher fees ($1500–3000) to enroll. There are some private schools and colleges but their fees are much higher.

Since 1967, all schools, colleges, and universities have been under close government supervision by the Baath Party.http://countrystudies.us/syria/37.htm

Syrian territorial problems Turkish-Syrian dispute over Hatay Province There is a deep rooted disagreement between Turkey and Syria over the Hatay Province.

At present Syrians hold the view that this land was illegally ceded in the late 1930s to Turkey by France - the mandatory occupying power of Syria (between 1920 and 1946). The Turks remember Syria as a former Ottoman Empire vilayet with embitterment. Contemporary Syria and Syrians still considers this land as integral Syrian territory. Syrians call this land Liwaaa aliskenderuna rather than the Turkish name of Hatay.

The Turks hold a different view, saying that it has been a Turkish province for millennia. Under a French-Turkish treaty of 20 October 1921 the Alexandretta was made autonomous, and remained so from 1921 to 1923. In 1923 Hatay was attached to the State of Aleppo, and in 1925 it was directly attached to the French mandate of Syria, still with special administrative status. A referendum organized in 1939 by the French-backed Republic of Hatay highlighted the tension in relations between Turkey and Syria. The aforementioned referendum has been labelled phoney by the famous British journalist Robert Fisk as Turks were busloaded into the province to boost their chances of succeeding while Turkish troops terrorized Arab residences into not voting. Prior to that, the 1936 elections in the sanjak returned two MPs favoring the independence of Syria from France, and this prompted communal riots as well as passionate articles in the Turkish and Syrian press. This then became the subject of a complaint to the League of Nations by the Turkish government under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk concerning alleged mistreatment of the area's Turkish populations. Atatürk demanded that Hatay become part of Turkey, claiming that the majority of its inhabitants were Turks. However independent sources and maps confirm that the Sanjaq of Alexandretta was ethnically mixed with the southern parts being mostly inhabited by Arabs., Historical Atlas, 1911). Note that Antakia-Antioch- was an Arab town. As well as Turks the population of the Sanjak included: Arabs in Turkeys of various religious denominations (Sunni Muslims, Alawites, Syriac Orthodox Church, Antiochian Orthodox Church); Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Maronites; Jews; Assyrian people; Kurds; and Armenians.

The sanjak was given autonomy in November 1937 in an arrangement brokered by the League. Under its new statute, the sanjak became 'distinct but not separated' from the French mandate of Syria on the diplomatic level, linked to both France and Turkey for defence matters.

The allocation of seats in the sanjak assembly was based on the 1938 census held by the French authorities under international supervision: out of 40 seats, 22 were given to the Turks, and 18 for the Arabs and their allies (nine for Alawi Arabs, five for Armenians, two for Sunni Arabs, and two for Christian Arabs). The assembly was appointed in the summer of 1938 and the French-Turkish treaty settling the status of the Sanjak was signed on 4th July 1938. The French action to cede the province to Turkey influenced the decision of Syrian President at the time Hashim al-Atassi to resign in protest at continued French intervention in Syrian affairs, maintaining that the French were obliged to refuse the annexation of Hatay under the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence (1936).

Under the leadership of Syrian President Bashar al Assad from 2000 onwards there was a lessening of tensions between Turkey and Syria over the Hatay issue. Indeed, in early 2005, when visits from Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Turkish prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened a way to discussions between two states, it was claimed that the Syrian government announced it had no claims to sovereignty concerning Hatay any more.. However, to date, there has been no official announcement by the Syrians to suggest that Syria has relinquished its rights of sovereignty.

Historical details of this transfer of land from Syrian sovereignty to Turkish rule are given in "The Alexandretta Dispute" article published in the American Journal of International Law .

Following changes to Turkish land registry legislation in 2003 a large number of properties in Hatay were purchased by Syrian nationals, mostly people who in fact had been residents of Hatay since the 1930s but had retained their Syrian citizenship and were in fact buying the properties that they already occupied. By 2006 the amount of land owned by Syrian nationals in Hatay exceeded the legal limit for foreign ownership of 0.5%, and sale of lands to foreigners was prohibited.http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/4558885.asp?m=1&gid=69 (see for more details}.During this period the story began to spread, mainly on Turkish right-wing websites, that in 2039 the referendum will be reheld and Hatay will again have the option of rejoining Syria or France.

Israeli-Syrian dispute over Golan Heights Main article: Golan Heights

In comparison to the Hatay dispute, the international community and the United Nations sees the Golan Heights as Syrian lands occupied and illegally annexed by Israel.

The Golan Heights are located in the southwestern part of the Syrian Arab Republic. The region is , and includes mountains reaching an altitude of above sea level. The heights dominate the plains below. The Jordan River, Lake Tiberias and the Hula Valley border the region on the west. To the east is the Raqqad Valley and the south is Yarmok River and valley. The northern boundary of the region is the mountain Jabal al- asheikh (Mount Hermon), one of the highest in the Middle East. It is a rich agricultural area, traditionally farmed by an Arab society encompassing 108 private farms and 163 villages and towns. An agreement to establish a demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria was signed on July 20, 1949, but border clashes continued. Syria used the Golan Heights to launch attacks on Israeli farmers and fishing boats, prompting retaliatory attacks by Israel.http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_sixday_backgd.php Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War. Between 80,000 and 109,000 of the inhabitants, mainly Druze and Circassians, fled during the war. In 1973, Syria tried to regain control of the Golan Heights in a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. Despite initial Syrian successes and heavy Israeli losses, the Golan Heights remained in Israeli hands after a successful Israeli counter attack. Syria and Israel signed an armistice agreement in 1974, and a United Nations observer force was stationed there. Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, although the Syrian government

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