Syria

Syria (in Arabic: سوريا Sūriyā), officially Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهوريّة العربيّة السّوريّة Al- Ŷumhūriyya Al-`Arabiyya As-Sūriyya) is a sovereign country in the Middle East, bathed by the Levantine Mediterranean coast, whose form of government is the semi-presidential unitary republic, mired in a civil war since March 2011. It shares borders with Turkey to the north, with Iraq to the east, with Israel and Jordan to the south, and with Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, with the island of Cyprus visible from its shores in the distance. Syria is a member of the United Nations Organization since its foundation.

Syria has a population of 17.5 million, most of whom speak Arabic and profess Islam, with Sunnis being the majority group. Non-Sunni Muslims in Syria include Alawites and Shiites. In addition, there are minorities of the Assyrian, Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish ethnic groups along with thousands of Palestinian refugees.

After World War I, the modern Syrian state emerged as a French Mandate and represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the Levant after the end of Ottoman rule. On October 24, 1945, it gained its independence and became a parliamentary republic, although the French troops did not fully withdraw until April 1946. The following years were very tumultuous, with consecutive coups d'état and failed coup attempts between 1949 and 1963. Between 1958 and 1961, the country formed the United Arab Republic with Egypt, but its short-lived existence ended with the Syrian coup in 1961. After the constitutional referendum in Syria in 1961, the Syrian Arab Republic was established, although until the coup of 1963 the country remained in instability. From March 8, 1963 to March 17, 2011, the Arab Socialist Baath Party – Syrian Region ruled the country under the declaration of a state of emergency and since 1970 the Syrian presidency has been held by members of the Asad family., the first General Hafez al-Asad, head of state from 1970 to 2000, followed by his son Bashar al-Asad, current president.

Etymology

The origin of the name "Syria" is not conclusively defined. It could come from ancient Greek and originally designate the land of Aram, but Herodotus saw it as shorthand for Assyria, while modern historians trace it back to various local names. It first appears in Greek and has no identifiable antecedents, either in form or content, in pre-Hellenistic texts. Well established in official Roman and Byzantine usage, it disappeared in the 7th century with the Muslim conquest, but continued to be used in Europe. In the Arab-Muslim world, the region formerly called "Syria" was called Sham (شام‎) which was also that of their capital, Damascus.

The name «Syria», in Arabic Sūriyyah (سوريا‎), was unknown until the second half of the 19th century when it re-emerged under European influence. In 1865, it became the official name of a province: the Vilayate of Damascus. It was after the establishment of the French mandate, in 1920, when it came to designate the current Syrian state.

History

Syrian Prehistory

The Neolithic revolution (10,000 BC) encompassed the entire region stretching from the Nile Valley to the eastern Mediterranean, including Syria and Iraq, to the Iranian Plateau and the Indus Valley. It also included chains of flourishing peasant populations in the wooded plains of northern Europe. In this extensive region there was a great variety of cultures integrated into the "Fertile Crescent", a historical region that corresponded to part of the territories of the Mediterranean Levant, Mesopotamia and Persia.

Before independence

Ruins of the ancient city of Palmira

Around 2000 B.C. C., Syria was part of the Aram^{[citation needed]}. It was subject to Egypt from almost 1530 B.C. C. to 1250 B.C. Aram-Damascus was an Aramean state established around its capital, Damascus, in Syria, from the late 12th century century. to. C. to 732 B.C. C. In southwest Asia in ancient Mesopotamia, in the valley of the Tigris River, the Assyrian civilization was located, around 1350 BC. c.; in the 8th century BC. C., Assyria subjugated the entire country, which passed to Babylon in the VII century B.C. C. Persia annexed it in 538 BC. C., retaining it until it was seized by Alexander the Great, 200 years later. The region constituted the Roman Province of Syria between the years 64 B.C. C. and 634 AD. C., when it was conquered during the Muslim Expansion. In the second half of the XI century, after being taken by the Saracens, it was occupied by the Seljuks, and in 1516 by the Ottoman Turks, who retained it until 1833, when it was conquered by Mehmet Ali, who returned it to the Turks in 1840.

Uprising in As Suwayda in 1925 during the Great Syrian Revolution by Sultan Pasha al-Atrash

The Turks continued to rule Syria until they were expelled from it by the British in 1918, and to France since it intervened in Lebanon to suppress the atrocities ^{[citation needed] of the Turks, had maintained its political claims on Syria, and its special position was recognized in the Anglo-French agreement of 1916. According to this, the English left that country, and the Supreme Council of the allies gave France the mandate over the same. In 1928, the Constituent Assembly drafted a constitution; but this did not obtain the approval of France, which in 1929 dissolved the Assembly. In May 1930 a new Constitution was approved. In June 1932, Muhammah Ali Bey el Abed was elected president of the republic. In treaties signed at the end of 1936, France promised full independence for Syria, within three years. In 1938, Syria was forced to cede the sanyak of Alexandretta (in Turkish Iskenderun) to Turkey. After the collapse of France, Syria remained loyal to the Vichy government.}

From independence to Asad's rule

Destruction in the city of Quneitra in the Golan Heights in June 1974 following the Israeli withdrawal at the end of the Yom Kipur war.

In June 1941, British, Australian and Free French forces attacked from Iraq and, after a brief campaign, broke the resistance of French troops led by General Dentz and occupied the country. After that, they solemnly announced the granting of independence. Recognized by the United Nations, the independence of Syria as a sovereign State, the French evacuated it in 1946. In the first years after the proclamation of independence, the country's internal politics was very complicated. On August 14, 1949, Husni Zaim, head of the government, was assassinated. A new ministry was formed during the presidency of Hachem el-Atassi, headed by Sami el-Hinnani, who led the revolution against Zaim. On December 19 of the same year, a second revolution encouraged by Colonel Adib Chichakli and promoted when the National Assembly was about to discuss the unity of the Arab countries and the close collaboration with Iraq, removed Sami from his command posts. el-Hinnani and other political bosses. As a consequence of new military coups (1951 and 1952), Colonel Adib Chichakli assumed all powers.

In February 1954, a military coup by Colonel Mustafa Hamdum forced the head of state Chichakli to resign and take refuge in Saudi Arabia. The insurgents recognized the politician Hachem al-Atassi, who was in exile, as president of Syria. In October of the same year, parliamentary elections were held. The Syrian government holds political and financial talks with Lebanon to establish the economic union between the two countries.

In 1955, Syrian politics underwent a profound change; Chukri el-Kuatli, who had lived in exile from Egypt and shared the ideas of Gamal Abdel Nasser, was elected President of the Republic. Between 1958 and 1961, Egypt and Syria formed the United Arab Republic (UAR). El-Kuatli and Nasser coincided in their opposition to any expansive federation project advocated from Baghdad by Nuri es-Said, as well as adherence to the Anglo-Saxon defensive pacts. Such a policy found approval and support in the Soviet Union and aroused, on the other hand, serious misgivings in Turkey and Iraq. From the USSR, abundant arms shipments arrived in Syria, whose president visited Moscow.

On November 13, 1970, Hafez al-Assad seized power in a coup that brought the Arab Socialist Baath Party into the government. Al-Asad ruled for almost 30 years and upon his death, on June 10, 2000, he was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Asad, in a referendum called for this purpose, with a result of 94.6% participation. and 97.3% in favor.

Syrian civil war

In December 2010, the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia marked the beginning of the Arab Spring. The successful uprising of Tunisians inspired similar instability in countries across North Africa and the Middle East that, like Tunisia, experienced high unemployment, corruption, and political repression by their presidents. Consequently, in 2011 the Syrian people came out to demonstrate against the policies implemented by Bashar al Assad, turning into a civil war.

In January 2013, after United Nations and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said that Bashar al-Assad should not participate in a transitional government, Walid Mualem, Syrian foreign minister, called on opposition groups to join a new cabinet under al-Assad, but only if they "reject foreign intervention".

Bombed vehicles in Aleppo

Flag of colonial Syria, symbol of the rebels

This is how the current civil war began. During the uprising, the Syrian government has branded the opposition as revolutionaries trying to destabilize the country. Opposition leaders say it is just the justification for the regime's attacks. The United States and many of its Western allies have imposed economic sanctions against Syria, condemned al-Assad, and demanded that he step down from power. However, they have not persuaded the UN Security Council to do the same. China and Russia, two of Syria's trading partners, vetoed several of the proposed resolutions regarding Syria. A deadly chemical attack in September 2013 almost prompted military intervention, but a controversial diplomatic response with Russia led to the destruction of the chemical weapons, but the war continued.

Subsequently, two meetings between the opposition (the Syrian National Council) and the Syrian government took place in Geneva in the hope of ending the war. In 2014, al-Asad ran for the presidency for the third time, amid a bloody standoff to get him out of office. Torture, murder, executions, rape and looting perpetrated by both the government side of Bashar al-Asad and the rebel side supported by the United States and Saudi Arabia have been verified, becoming these crimes of extreme violence, especially since the entry on the scene of the Islamic State.

In 2014, and under pressure from the Islamic State, Syria would approach positions with the United States.

On April 14, 2018, the United States, with the support of the United Kingdom and France, bombed the Scientific Research Center in Barzeh in the Syrian capital, killing innocent people.

War against the Islamic State

The advance of the fundamentalist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) across large areas of northern Iraq in 2014 caused some 50,000 people to flee from the Sinjar mountains towards the Kurdish autonomous regions and towards Syria. It was after the withdrawal of the United States troops after the war in Iraq when this fundamentalist faction grew in number of militants to about 2,500, and with that leap it was encouraged to enter the Syrian civil war.

On June 29, 2014, the organization was renamed the Islamic State in the occupied areas of Syria and Iraq, with Al Baghadi assuming command. The course of the war took a sharp turn since Syria has to resort to power of its rivals to defend its territory. Syria thus opened the door to bombardments by the United States against the Islamic State.

Since September 23, 2014, US aircraft have been bombing terrorist positions with the help of the navy and warplanes belonging to the international coalition against the Islamic State.

On November 13, 2017, an air strike was carried out on a town in Aleppo, resulting in more than 50 deaths and more than 90 injuries, the perpetrator of the incident is unknown, media presume that it may be the Syrian or Russian government.

Government and politics

Bashar al-Asad, president of Syria.

Syria has been a republic since 1946. In 1973, the Constitution was approved in a referendum that defined Syria as a Democratic, Popular and Socialist Republic, based, among others, on Arab socialism, the principles of equality before the law, freedom religious and private property. In 2012 a new Constitution was approved by plebiscite.

Every seven years a president is elected, who must be a Muslim; and every four, a People's Assembly and a Council of Ministers. Under the Constitution, the president has powers to appoint and dismiss vice-presidents, the prime minister, and ministers. He is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Secretary General of the Arab Socialist Baath Party and Chairman of the country's National Progressive Front.

The legislative bodies are the People's Assembly and the Local Administration Councils. The three branches of the Syrian state are controlled by the Baath, which until the constitutional amendment approved by referendum in 2012 had guaranteed by law the decisive participation in the powers of the state.

The participation of six other minor political parties that together with the majority Baath make up the so-called Progressive National Front (FNP), الجبهة الوطنية التقدمية, are allowed to participate. These parties are the only ones authorized to express the political ideas of Syrian citizens. It is the Baath Party that dominates the aforementioned Front, these parties make up the Parliament that is controlled directly by the President of the Republic, since the Executive power reserves most of the legislative powers and review of the activities of the Legislative.

The Syrian Constitution invests the Arab Socialist Baath Party with the leadership functions of the state government and the life of Syrian society. The president, who has great powers to run the government, is elected for seven years to fulfill his functions, in addition to this he is also the president of the Baath Party and the leader of the National Progressive Front. The Syrian president also has the powers to appoint ministers, declare war, propose laws to the Legislative branch, and direct the armed forces. In the referendum for the election of the president in 2007, Bashar al-Asad was re-elected with 97.62% of the vote.

In the first multi-party presidential election, held in 2014, Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad was re-elected with 88.7% of the vote, with 73.42% of likely voters having voted, 11,634,412 people, which was seen as strong public support for the Syrian leader, whom many, including former opponents, now see as a guarantee against the chaos imposed by the war and the radicalization of opponents of Islamic extremism.^{[citation needed]}

Foreign Relations

Increasing influence among its Arab neighbors and securing the return of the Golan Heights have been the main goals of Syria's foreign policy. At many points in its history, Syria has seen virulent tension with its geographically cultural neighbors, such as Turkey, Israel, Iraq, and Lebanon. Syria enjoyed improved relations with several of the states in its region in the 21st century, before the Arab Spring. and the Syrian civil war.

Since the civil war, Syria has been increasingly isolated from countries in the region and from the broader international community. Diplomatic relations have been severed with several countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, and the Arab Gulf states. Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2012. Syria continues to foster good relations with its traditional allies, Iran and Russia. Other countries that currently maintain good relations with Syria are China, North Korea, Angola, Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Guyana, India, South Africa, Tanzania, Pakistan, Armenia, Argentina, Belarus, Tajikistan, the Philippines, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and others. Among the Arab League states, Syria continues to maintain good relations with Iraq, Egypt (after 3 July 2013), Algeria, Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman.

Geography

Map of Syria.

Topographic map of Syria

In the country, three regions can be distinguished from west to east: in the west there is a coastal plain, separated from the interior by the Jabal Ansariyya, a double mountain range inside which several valleys open up and further south, the peaks of Mount Hermon, on the border between Lebanon and Syria, descend towards the Hauran plateau that receives the humid winds of the Mediterranean; The center of the country is made up of a rugged plateau with several volcanic peaks that is crossed from northeast to southwest by a mountain range in which various formations can be distinguished: Jabal Abd al-Aziz, Jabal Visir, Jabal Buwayda, Jabal Saar, Jabal al Sarqi and Jabal Garbi.

The Levantine region is made up of the Euphrates valley. This is the main river that crosses the country, which penetrates from the north and takes a southeast direction; its tributary Jabur and the Orontes in the west are also important. In the extreme northeast, the border with Turkey is formed by the course of the Tigris. In the Pontine part of the country the climate is Mediterranean, but as you move towards the east it becomes drier and hotter.

From south to north, in the western third of the country, flows the Orontes River.

The population is concentrated in the territories located in the west; the vegetative growth rate is very high. As for the economy, the country is developing, although since 1973, and due to political problems that have made it allocate part of its budget to military expenses, inflation has slowed down this progress.

Its agriculture, favored since 1978 by the construction of the Tabka dam, which allows large areas to be irrigated, is dedicated primarily to the cultivation of cereals, cotton, olive trees and vegetables. It has sheep, goats and cattle. Asphalt, rock salt, oil, phosphates and natural gas are extracted from its subsoil. The industry, also in development, is mainly textile, food, cement, construction and oil refining. In recent times, some countries, such as Romania or the Federal Republic of Germany, have invested in their sugar, cement, phosphate and natural gas industries; oil extractions, however, have not given the expected results.

Flora and fauna

In addition to its coastline, it has a coastal plain, mountain ranges to the west, a semi-arid steppe in the center that occupies most of the country, and a desert area in the east. Each of these zones has its own characteristic animals and plants.

Flora

The iris species are widely distributed throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Its habitats are very diverse, ranging from cold regions on grassy slopes, dehesas, riversides to deserts of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and all over North America. The altitude doesn't matter.

About 3,100 species of angiosperms and also around 100 gymnosperms have been recorded in Syria. The country can be considered at a crossroads between various vegetation and flora zones, showing influences from three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. Ice ages pushed palearctic species further south, and when the climate improved, some species clung on to mountainous regions of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. Prevailing westerly winds cause more precipitation near the coast, and the vegetation on the western side of the coastal ridges differs from that on the eastern side, which again differs from the inland ridges and once again from rain-resistant plants. drought that grow in the Eastern Plateau.

In the west of the country, mild wet winters and hot, dry summers provide ideal conditions for the region's Eastern Mediterranean Forest, which includes evergreen oaks, Aleppo pines, and other conifers. Where trees have been felled, sclerophyll scrub, such as maquis scrub, and garrigue predominate in calcareous areas. Early 20th century , forests covered around a third of the country, but a hundred years later, these had been reduced to around 3%. The rest of the forest cover is found mainly in the Syrian Coastal Range and consists of thorny and glossy-leaved trees such as common boxwood, myrtle, genista, Pistacia palaestina, arbutus, and Olea oleaster.

Plants found in semi-arid and arid regions include bulbous plants such as tulips, Fritillaria, Asphodeline damascena, Asphodeline lutea, crocuses, iris, scilla, < i>Colchicum hierosolymitanum and Asphodelus aestivus, and other plants such as oblong poppy, wild poppy, Malva Parviflora, Indian plantain, star grass, holy thorn, jujube, Adonis aleppica, Adonis palaestina and sea thistle. The Pistacia palaestina which grows in semi-arid areas and is a traditional source of turpentine, and the soda blanca shrub, which grows with just 70 mm of rainfall, provides good fodder for cattle.

Wildlife

The Mediterranean monk seal, first quoted in the Odyssey Homer. Bone remains of these seals have been found in caves of Malaga belonging to the Magdalen and Epipaleolithic periods between 14 000 and 12 000 years.

Syria has a diverse fauna with 125 species of mammals, 394 birds, 127 reptiles, 16 amphibians and 157 freshwater fish species recorded in the country. Human activities have affected the biodiversity of fauna. Although lions and leopards used to be present, they have died out in the country, leaving the brown bear and gray wolf as the largest remaining carnivores. Also present are the red fox, striped hyena, golden jackal, ichneumon, common weasel, Bulgarian polecat, honey badger, European badger, and European otter. The felids that are in the country include the caracal, jungle cat, sand cat and wild cat. Herding animals include Arabian and Persian gazelles, roe deer, wild goat, Nubian ibex and Arabian oryx. There are also rock hyrax, hedgehogs, hares, shrews and bats. Rodent species include sciurids, glirids, jerboas, gerbils, hamsters, mole-rats, jirds, arvicolins, rats, mice, and spiny mice.

Ten species of whales have been recorded off the coast, as well as the endangered Mediterranean monk seal. Four species of turtles are sometimes seen, the most common being the loggerhead turtle, and about 295 species of marine fish have been recorded in Syria.

Of the nearly four hundred bird species recorded in the country, many are migrants, particularly visiting the coastal range, the Euphrates valley, and the seasonal lakes that form in arid regions. Jabbūl Lake is a nature reserve where this salty lake is visited by the migrating Greater Flamingo. Breeding birds in danger of extinction are some pairs of bald ibis in the north of the country, the lesser kestrel and the great bustard. And some rare visiting species which are the corn crake, the frowned pelican, the white-headed duck and the eastern imperial eagle.

Territorial organization

Syria has 14 governorates or provinces, muhafazat (singular: muhafazah), divided into 60 districts, manatiq (sing. mintaqah), which in turn are subdivided into subdistricts or nawahi (sing. nahia). The nawahi are made up of villages or cities, which are the smallest administrative units.

1. Damascus (in Arabic): دمشق)
2. Rural Damascus ریف دمشق)
3. Quneitraمقنيرة)
4. Dar'aمحافة درعة)
5. Suede (محافة السويداء)
6. Homs (محافة حمص)
7. Tartus (in Arabic): محافبة أنوس)
8. Latakia (Latakia)محافة اللاقية)
9. Hama (محافة حماه)
10. Idlib (محافة ادلب)
11. Aleppo (محافة حلب)
12. Al Raqa (محافة الرقة)
13. Deir ez-Zorمة دير الزور)
14. Hasaka (محافة الحسكةin Kurdish: سحكة)

Main Cities

The most inhabited cities are:

Economy

Old Syrian pound

Syria's economy has stagnated since the start of the civil war due to the destruction of industrial strength; the Syrian countryside has also been affected as it became a battlefield; the economic crisis is a consequence of the war. Agriculture (wheat and cotton) generated 27% of GDP and livestock, mainly goats and sheep, is aimed at exporting wool, it has reserves of natural gas, rock salt and phosphates. The textile, food, metallurgical and cement industries accounted for 22% of GDP. The rights of passage of foreign oil through the country's pipelines generated large revenues for the government and place it in a strategic position between the Middle East and Europe.

Despite the fact that half of the territory is unproductive, agriculture maintains a fundamental weight in the economy. Wheat, rye, legumes, potatoes, vegetables, vines, olive trees, cotton, citrus and stone fruit trees are grown. Sheep farming is based on traditional nomadic herding. Oil, natural gas, phosphates and rock salt are extracted from the soil. Industrial activity includes oil refining, cotton and wool spinning and weaving, cigarette, beer, sugar, cement and glass manufacturing. Syria exports oil, cotton and other agricultural products.

“The Syrian crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our time. However, the world fails to respond to the needs of refugees, nor of the countries that host them," lamented the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

With the recovery of the industrial centers of Aleppo, Deir ez Zor and Eastern Ghouta, a renewal of industrial strength is slowly maintained, especially since the beginning of 2018.

Oil

Currently, a part of Syrian crude is found in territories controlled by Daesh and the SDF, so the country's production does not exceed 8,000 barrels per day, even though it has reserves of close to 2,500 million barrels.

During 2017, after the army's successful campaigns against the Islamic State, the government recovered a large number of oil wells and gas fields in the east of the country.

But even after killing Daesh, it will cost more than $40 billion to recover the country and its energy infrastructure, more than half of Syria's GDP. Currently, the extraction of gas and oil is responsible for only 3% of the GDP of that country, explains the author of the article.

This means that Damascus will have to ask for the collaboration of foreign companies, willing to work alongside the Assad government in a post-war period. Since 2011, both Europe and the United States have completely banned the import or transport of Syrian crude, making it unlikely that Assad will grant concessions to Western companies for oil extraction or refining.

Transportation

Aleppo Airport

The Hiyaz railway in 2007. The line was built at the beginning of the centuryXX. and joins Damascus with Haman in Jordan.

Syria has several international airports, including Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia.

• Interurban transport.
  • There is a wide network of buses connecting the whole country, both towns and cities. Some of the best-known companies are Pullman, Karnak and AlZeituni, although there are many others. The buses have air conditioning and often offer their passengers a snack free of charge.
  • Moreover, the main cities are connected by the railway network. The new trains are comfortable, fast and have coffee service, although it is worthwhile for the traveller to ensure the type of train you will travel before buying the ticket (the old trains are extremely slow).

Travel by bus and train are both quite cheap, even if you travel first class. Tickets are usually bought at the station itself (in the case of the train, there are two points of sale in Damascus: the Hejaz station and the Khaddam station). There is no detailed information on the Internet, but the companies offer information on prices and routes in their offices, located in the station itself.

• Urban transport. There are three modalities: the bus, taxi and bus.
  • The microbus transports up to twelve passengers by default routes and is extremely economical. The price of the journey (about 10 Syrian pounds, approximately) is not paid directly to the driver, but the money is given to the passenger in front, and this will happen again until the driver arrives. The starting point and completion of each route is announced in Arabic, at the top of the vehicle.
  • Taxi is quite economical compared to European countries. It is paid according to what the counter marks, although it is advisable to give a small tip.
  • Finally, urban (modern and comfortable) buses are not available on all routes, although they circulate in the center of the big cities. To pay the amount of the trip, it is not paid directly to the driver, you must purchase travel vouchers at the points of sale (usually next to the first or last stop of the tour). In the future it is expected that this means of transport, less polluting, will partly replace others.

Demographics

Young Bedouins in Aleppo

The Syrian population before the war was 22,530,746 inhabitants, and a density of 110 inhabitants/km², mostly concentrated in territories from the west of the country. The majority is of Arab origin (90.3%).

The population is concentrated in three geographical areas: the coastal strip and its nearby reliefs, along the course of the Euphrates River and on the northern border with Turkey. 51.8% of Syrians live in urban centers. The growth of the industrial sector and the rural exodus have led to a rapid development of cities.

The most populous is the capital Damascus, located on the eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon mountains. They are followed in importance by Aleppo, in the northwest of the country; Homs and Hama, on the banks of the Orontes River; and Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast.

Although it has moderated, the Syrian population pyramid still shows a young structure: 38.6% of the inhabitants are under 15 years of age. This phenomenon is due to a fertility rate of 3.32 children per woman, which places the annual growth of the population at over 2.4%. If this demographic behavior had persisted, Syria would have doubled the total number of its inhabitants in less than thirty years.

Health

Tap water is chlorinated and drinkable (in towns far from the main cities it may be contaminated). It is recommended to drink bottled water during the first days of stay.

There is a risk of malaria (also called malaria), and the disease that occurs in the north of the country is leishmaniasis. Also, secondarily, there is typhus, relapsing fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, filariasis, typhoid fever, and hepatitis A and B.

Education

Jawdat al-Hashimi School in Damascus

Preschool education in Syria is for three-year-olds and lasts three years. It is free and not mandatory.

When you reach the age of six, you enter primary education. This stage lasts six years. When it is finished, the primary education certificate is obtained, if it has been approved.

This is followed by intermediate education, which lasts three years, and when passed, the student gets the intermediate education diploma, depending on the type of intermediate education chosen (general or religious education).

The next step is general secondary education, which lasts three years. During the first year it has a general content for all students; and when continuing with the second year you can choose two subjects: sciences, or letters; although there are also technical secondary schools.

Culture

Archaeologists have discovered writings and evidence of a culture that rivaled that of Mesopotamia and Egypt in the ancient city of Ebla.

Music

The capital of Syria has always been one of the centers of Arabic music, as there are a large number of Syrian artists such as Sabah Fakhri, Nassif Zaitoun, George Wassouf, Asmahan, Lena Chamamyan, Mayada Henawi, Farid al-Atrash, Avraam Russo, etc, the latter singer despite being born in Syria, is a Russian pop star, so he is not well known in the world of Arabic music.

Languages

The official and predominant language is Arabic. Kurdish is dominant in the northeastern part of Syria. In Aleppo there are groups that also speak Armenian. The Turkmen language is also spoken by the Turkmen who settled in the times of the Ottoman Empire, and are still settled there today. Aramaic is spoken in more than thirty towns. The Azeri language is spoken by small groups in Homs and Hama; This language was believed to be extinct along with some modern languages such as Lomavren, and Mlashö. Circassian is also spoken in Syria. In addition, it is not very difficult to find Spanish speakers, especially in the southern areas of the country, from where there has been a lot of emigration to Latin American countries and, to a lesser extent, Spain. English and French are widespread in business and the cultural sphere.

Architecture

The Crac of the Knights, raised among the centuries XII and XIII by the Knights Hospitaller

Crac des Cavaliers, was a castle of the Hospitallers, built by the Crusaders on a spur of the Syrian desert in order to protect the route that linked the Syrian city of Homs (under Muslim rule) with Tripoli (Lebanon), capital of the county of the same name, on the Mediterranean coast. The original fortress had been built by the emir of Aleppo.

Gastronomy

Fattoush, an example of Syrian cuisine

Traditionally, the meal begins with an assortment of mezze, starters that come before the main course. A kind of cream is very typical, accompanied with hubz (Arabic bread), among them, hummus (chickpeas and sesame), baba ganush (smoked eggplant), and the refreshing keshek (yogurt, cucumber, mint, garlic, and oil). Salads usually accompany main courses. They are made with tomato, lettuce, cucumber, onion, celery, legumes, and other vegetables.

The main dish is usually made up of meat or fish. The kebabs (meat skewers that are usually chicken or lamb, are cooked on a barbecue. Another dish is the kafta, which is prepared with minced lamb, onion, and spices, covered with a parsley salad.Also, we can find ruz dyay (rice with chicken) or lahme (meat).The rice is cooked with aromatic spices, and on top are placed pieces of chicken with almonds, and toasted pine nuts.

The meal usually ends with fresh fruit. The pastries are also very characteristic. The mahlabiyye, with essence of orange blossom, almonds, and pistachios. Also cheese sweets, which are made from sweet, stringy cheese with ashta (curdled cream made from boiling milk).

The basic drinks of the population are tea, Arabic and Turkish coffee (qahwe), which are never taken with milk.

Religion

Church of San Simeon

The Islamic religion is predominant: Muslims obey mainly Sunni orthodoxy, although there are also Alawites, Shiites, Druze and Ismailis. Christianity, in its different confessions (Orthodox, Syriac, Maronite, Catholic of the Armenian rite, etc.), is limited to the peripheral provinces and some urban neighborhoods. In addition, it should be noted that, unlike other nations in the Middle East, freedom of worship is respected in Syria, therefore there are no confrontations or bias between Christians and Muslims, even women can move freely through the streets, lacking any type of islamic headscarf. The Christian holidays of the birth of Jesus, December 25, as well as Good Friday and Easter Sunday are celebrated throughout the country as national holidays.

Sahn (patio) of the Omeyas mosque in Damascus, one of the sacred places of Islam.

Art

Due to the influence of the different peoples that have remained more or less stable in Syrian territory, the country's art is characterized by the presence of different currents, sometimes contradictory, which give this art a spectacular originality. Since the Neolithic two opposing tendencies appear. The first refers to a series of autochthonous manifestations (wooden sculpture and high relief). The second is the one that is most similar to the trends of neighboring civilizations, such as the hieratic but majestic zoomorphic sculpture of Atsana, which has led to doubts about the originality of Syrian art.

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