Syria

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The name "Syria" historically referred to the region of Syria, or known as Greater Syria and Syria-Palestine. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization. Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad Empire and later became an important political and administrative center, alongside Aleppo, under the Ayyubid and Mamluk Sultanates and the Ottoman Empire. The modern Syrian state was established in the mid-20th century after centuries of Ottoman rule, as a French Mandate.

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Etymology

Several sources indicate that the name Syria is borrowed from the Ancient Greek name Σύριοι Sýrioi, or Σύροι Sýroi, which is in turn borrowed from Luwian sura/i- (attested in the 8th century BC), and ultimately derived from Aššūr (Assyria) in northern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and north-eastern Syria). However, from the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BC), this term was also applied to the Levant, and from this point the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant.

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History

The Natufian culture was the first to become sedentary around the 11th millennium BC and became one of the centers of Neolithic culture (known as Pre-Pottery Neolithic A), where agriculture and cattle breeding first began to appear. The site of Tell Qaramel has several round stone towers dated to 10650 BC, making them the oldest structures of this kind in the world. The Neolithic period (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) is represented by rectangular houses of Mureybet culture. At the time, people used containers made of stone, gyps, and burnt lime (Vaisselle blanche).

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Geography

Syria is the twenty-fifth-largest country in Asia. It borders Turkey to the north; Iraq to the east and southeast; Jordan to the south; Israel and Lebanon to the southwest; and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Syrian territory covers 185,180 km2 (71,500 sq mi). Elevation ranges from the coastal plains of the Mediterranean to the mountains of western Syria, with Mount Hermon being the country's highest point at 2,814 metres (9,232 feet).

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Politics and government

Syria is currently undergoing a political transition following the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024. It operates under a unitary presidential system and, as of 2026, is governed by a transitional government during a provisional period. Currently, Syria operates as a unitary state, with the president serving as both head of state and head of government, although there are proposals to implement decentralisation. Since the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference banned the Ba'athist-era National Progressive Front, no new legislation regulating political parties has been enacted, and major political parties have yet to emerge in Syria.

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Economy

After the fall of the Assad regime, the subsequent formation of the Syrian transitional government and the lifting of sanctions placed onto the Ba'athist-led government, Syria's economy has begun to see significant growth, with Syrian news agency Levant24 claiming that the country's GDP had risen to $32 billion, experiencing a 30% to 35% growth in the GDP, alongside recording a budget surplus for the first time since the end of the Syrian civil war and expecting GDP to rise to $60 or $65 billion, around the same amount prior to the beginning of the civil war.

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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 before the civil war was about 99 per square kilometre (258 per square mile). According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Syria hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 1,852,300. The vast majority of this population was from Iraq (1,300,000), but sizeable populations from Palestine (543,400) and Somalia (5,200) also lived in the country.

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Culture

Syria is a traditional society with a long cultural history. Importance is placed on family, religion, education, self-discipline and respect. Syrians' taste for the traditional arts is expressed in dances such as the al-Samah, the Dabkeh in all their variations, and the sword dance. Marriage ceremonies and the births of children are occasions for the lively demonstration of folk customs.

Syrian cuisine is rich and varied in its ingredients, linked to the regions where a specific dish has originated. Syrian food mostly consists of southern Mediterranean, Greek, and Southwest Asian dishes.

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