Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon to the west, Palestine and 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 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 Empire.
Syria has a population of 19 million. The majority are Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims, with other Muslims groups, including the Alawi and Shi'a, constituting around 16% of the population. There is also a 10% Christian minority and a significant Druze community.
Historically, Syria has often included the territories of Lebanon, Historical Palestine, and parts of Jordan, but excluded the Jazira region in the north-east of the modern Syrian state. In this historic sense, the region is also known as Greater Syria. The Syrian Government officially claims sovereignty over the region of Iskanderun and the Golan Heights, under Turkish and Israeli control, respectively. The dispute over Iskanderun has subsided in recent years.
Etymology Info:
The name Syria comes from the ancient Greek name for the former colonial territories of Assyria such as Canaan and Aram, derived from the Semitic word "Siryon". 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" (N.H. 5.66). 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 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 Eleutheris river, and Mesopotamia.
History of Syria Info:
Syrian civilization dates back to at least the fourth millennium BC. Many sites in Syria evoke the beginnings of recorded human history.
Archaeologists have demonstrated that Syria was the centre of one of the most ancient civilizations on Earth. Around the excavated city of Ebla in north-eastern Syria, discovered in 1975, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 BC. Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be the oldest recorded Semitic language. At Ebla (Tel Merdikh), a royal palace was discovered containing one of the largest and most comprehensive archives of the ancient world. Ebla's archive consists of more than 17,000 clay tablets dealing with matters of industry, diplomacy, trade, art and agriculture. Ebla became world-famous for two industries: the manufacture of finely carved wood, inlaid with ivory and mother of pearls; and of silk cloth of gold. Today these industries still prosper, with Syrian brocade and mosaics fashioned according to the artisan tradition of ancient Ebla.
Other notable cities excavated include Mari, Ugarit and Dura Europos. At Mari (Tel Hariri) numerous palaces, temples and murals were found that reflect advanced cultural and commercial activity. The kingdom of Ugarit (Ras Shamra) offered humankind its first alphabet.
Syria was occupied successively by Canaanites, Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Armenians, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, Arabs, and, in part, Crusaders before finally coming under the control of the Ottoman Turks. Syria is significant in the history of Christianity; according to the Bible, Paul was converted on the Road to Damascus and joined the first organized Christian Church in Antioch in ancient Syria (now in Turkey), from which he left on many of his missionary journeys.
Damascus, a city that has been inhabited as early as 3,000 BC, is known to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It came under Muslim rule in AD 636. Immediately thereafter, the city's power and prestige reached its peak, and it became the capital of the Umayyad Empire, which extended from Spain to the borders of Central Asia from AD 661 to AD 750. Syria acted as cultural hub that took in influences from many sources and sent them out to other parts of the empire and Damascus achieved a glory unrivalled among cities of the eighth century. The Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty in AD 750, and the seat of the Abbasid caliphate was established at Baghdad, Iraq.
Damascus became a provincial capital of the Mameluke Empire around 1260. It was largely destroyed in 1400 by Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror, who removed many of its craftsmen to Samarkand. Rebuilt, it continued to serve as a capital until 1516. In 1517, it fell under Ottoman rule. The Ottomans remained for the next four hundred years, except for a brief occupation by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt from 1832 to 1840.
General elections were held in 1919, and the first Parliament was formed under the name of the Syrian national congress, with Hashim al-Atassi as the speaker of parliament. Prince Zayed became prime minister in January until Rida al-Rikabi was reappointed as Prime Minister in March. On March, 8, 1920, the Syrian national congress elected and crowned Prince Faysal as the king of Syria. Faysal appointed Hashim al-Atassi as Prime Minister in May, and asked him to appoint the cabinet.
Faysal also declared Syria a free and independent kingdom and appointed a 20-member committee, headed by Atassi, to draw up a constitution. The constitution adapted a new flag and declared the federal and Parliamentary systems as well as the constitutes of the Syrian kingdom, which consisted of the four autonomous territories of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. Each territory would have high autonomy with a governor-general appointed by the monarch, a chamber of deputies, and a local government.
According to the constitution, the monarch and Prime Minister represented the executive branch and the Syrian national congress, consisting of the elected members of the chamber of deputies and the half-elected, half-appointed members of the senate, represented the legislative branch.
It declared Arabic the official language and consequently translated school texts into Arabic.
Under the terms of the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and France, France was granted a mandate over Syria by the League of Nations.
In 1920, the French army attacked Damascus and crushed the Syrian resistance led by the Minster of war in Atassi’s government, Yusuf al-Azmeh, in the Battle of Maysalun. The Syrian national congress and the kingdom were dissolved; Faysal was forced to flee to Palestine then Italy. Syria was thereby governed by France directly under the high commissioner.
In late 1921 and early 1922, French authorities divided Syria into six states: Aleppo, Damascus, Jabal el Druze, the Alawite State, Lebanon, and Sanjak Iskenderoun (state of Alexandretta). Autonomy status was granted in Jabal al Druze, Lebanon, and Sanjak Iskenderoun. By the Franco-Turkish agreement of Ankara (1921), France decided to give the state of Alexandretta a special administration, where it was governed under mandate authorities, the autonomous government, and the government of Turkey. Separation from Syria in 1939 was the second Franco-Turkish action toward this state.
Many nationalists revolted against the French authorities.
However, the French managed to quell all the revolutions throughout Syria. The Druze revolt and the Damascus revolt were collectively known as the Great Syrian revolution because they were the best organized revolts in Syria. Damascus revolutionaries both took and captured Damascus in 1925 except for the Meza area and the Damascus citadel, where the French army centered and heavily bombed the city by artillery and aircraft. The remaining revolutionaries in the city surrendered to the French and bombing was stopped. Many parts of the city were destroyed as a result of the bombing, which lasted 48 hours. The last battles of Damascus’s rural area in 1927 marked the end of the Great Syrian revolution. As a result of the massive number of revolts against them, French authorities amended their plans in Syria; the Aleppo and Damascus states merged to form "The State of Syria" with the Alawite and Jabal Druze states remaining separate.
The state of Lebanon officially separated from Syria in 1926 as the Lebanese republic under French mandate. A number of political parties were formed including the People’s party (1925) and the Communist party of Syria and Lebanon (1924, renamed as the Syrian Communist Party in 1944). The Istiqlal party, and other nationalist groups and parties merged to form a coalition national alliance called the National Bloc, headed by Hashim al-Atassi, which called for an independent Syria, and said that independence should be granted by diplomatic talks with France rather than armed resistance. A 67-seated constituent assembly was formed in 1928 to draw up Syria’s first republican constitution, and the national bloc leader, Hashim al-Atassi, became speaker of the constituent assembly. The assembly approved a constitution in 1930, with the French high commissioner refusing articles that gave the Syrian government power more than the French authorities.
The high commissioner instead adapted the 116 article, which gave French authorities even greater power. At the same time, the constitutions of Jabal al-Druze, the Alawite state, and Alexanderetta were adapted.
In 1932, the Syrian republic was declared, and a Parliament was formed under the name of the chamber of deputies, with Subhi Barrakat as the speaker of the Parliament. Muhammad 'Ali al-'Abid became the president of Syria, and appointed the pro-French politician Haqqi al-Azm as Prime Minister. (Abid appointed a new Prime Minister in 1934, Taj al-Din al-Hasani, who created a pro-French cabinet.) Members of the national bloc and many Syrian nationalists stood against Abid’s regime, and called for a 60-day strike in February of 1936. France, in defeat, called the national bloc leaders in March, including Hashim al-Atassi, to negotiate a treaty with the French leaders in Paris to provide a gradual and substantial Syrian independence. The Syrian officials signed what is known as the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence in September, and came back to Syria within a month. The treaty called for the unification of Syria, and thus Jabal al-Druze and the Alawi state were joined with the Syrian republic.
The treaty provided more powers for the offices of President and Parliament, and, most significantly, gave Syria gradual independence over 25 years, after which Syria would gain full independence. During the previous months, 'Ata Bay al-Ayyubi, replaced Haqqi al-Azm as Prime Minister and declared the end of 60-day strike, dissolved the al-Hassani pro-French cabinet, and appointed a new coalition counsel of ministers. A new parliament was elected in 1936, with Hashim al-Atassi elected as president. France began assisting Syria by building schools, roads, and hospitals, but in 1939 annulled and refused the Franco-Syrian treaty of independence. Jabal al-Druze and the Alawi state were again separated from Syria. The newly-established presidential and Parliamentary authorities were abolished. Hashim al-Atassi resigned from presidency and France ceded to Turkey the state of Alexandretta (sanjak Iskenderoun) in 1939.
The French dissolved the Syrian Parliament in 1939 due to the outbreak of World War II.
After the surrender of France to Germany in 1940, Syria came under the control of the Vichy government. British and free French forces invaded Syria in 1941. Later in the same year, free French authorities asked Khatib to resign. General Charles de Gaulle visited Syria in October 1941 and asked Hashim al-Atassi to resume his duty as president, but Atassi refused to do so. De Gaulle then asked Taj al-din al-Hassani to rule as president without Parliament until elections were to be held after the end of World War II, who accepted. On January, 17, 1943, Taj al-din al-Hassani died in office, however, a new government and constitution were formed in the same year. During the elections of 1943, a new Parliament was created. Shukri al-Quwatli, a Syrian nationalist, one of the leaders of the 1925-1927 uprising against the French, and a member of the national bloc, was elected as president of the Syrian republic.
The 1943 constitution declared the "Syrian republic" the official name of the country, stated the Parliamentary system, and provided the freedom of religion. The constitution also provided a 120-seat chamber of deputies, which represented the Parliamentary and legislative branch. The president, who would serve a 5-year term, and would not be re-elected until its completion, represented the executive branch along with the Prime Minister and cabinet.
In 1944, French and Syrian leaders signed an independence treaty, the Jabal Druze and the Alwai state given back to the Syrian republic. Despite this, free French troops surrounded Damascus in 1945 and bombed it, only twenty years after the first raid. As a result, the Parliament building and the Damascus citadel were destroyed. Many civilian neighborhoods were severely damaged, with over 2000 civilian casualties.
In 1946, the independence treaty of 1944 was recognized and free French and British troops left Syria, the last leaving April 15, 1946. Independence was declared on April 17, which was made an official national holiday commemorated each year as the Jalaa Day (Independence Day).
Geography Info:
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.
The climate in Syria is dry and hot, and winters are mild. Because of the country's elevation, snowfall does occasionally occur during winter.
72,000 square miles (186,000 km²), roughly one-third is arable, with 80% of cultivated areas dependent on rainfall for water. In recent years, the agriculture sector has recovered from years of government inattentiveness and drought.
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