Syria gained its independence in April 1946 from France. However, before that the region of "Greater Syria" (Bilad al-Sham or the countries of the north) consisted of the regi…on of the current states of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel/Palestine and was an administrative region of the Ottoman Empire, as well as many former empires such as the Abbasids, Umayyads, and even the Romans and Greeks before that. (MORE)
6000 years EDIT: This is incorrect. Syria has been called Syria since 10,000 B.C. Syria used to be larger than it currently is, but it divided into multiple countries. So…urce: I am Syrian. (MORE)
Syria is an LEDC mainly because the same government (although it is a democracy) has been ruling for 41 years, and they have not been hearing out the citizens' demands for a b…etter country. (MORE)
I recently went to Syria and it was great. Some sights to see are:Palmyra, Alleppo, and of course Damascues. Oh, and definitely shopin the souks (market places). Whats great a…bout Syria is that youcan go to surrounding countries like Jordan, Israel, Egypt, andLebanon. We just went to Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Syria is abeautiful country, and you will enjoy your time there. (MORE)
About 5% of the Worlds oil but 25% of the Syrian Economy.... themain oil was found by Iraq Oil a consortium of Shell, Exxon, BP andtwo smaller companies in 1933. Then the busi…ness was Nationalizedby King Nasser in 1958. I suspect the Big 3 would like to havetheir Refineries back and Shell, Exxon, BP will likely get whatthey want. The biggest oil fields are close to the Iraq Border andwould therefore be easier to control than prior to the Iraq War.The current Chemical Warfare may be just the right excuse to goback and settle the control of the oil once and for all....and ohyes, give the world the idea that we're saving the children. (MORE)
Yes , Syria has two famous mountains , the bigest one called Qasyoon , which you can see it all around the city , the seconed one is called al sheikh mountain its near Lebanon… . (MORE)
The economic and political liberalization promised by Bashir Assad in 2000 has not emerged,leaving the economy somewhat stagnated and there have been no major developments in …terms of domestic affairs;it remains a authoritarian regime although Assad does not have his father's reputation for brutality; he is a velvet glove dictator. Relations with the U.S. were recently strained by an incident involving a U.S. violation of Syrian territory in the course of an anti-terrorist mission. Syria does not maintain relations with Israel due to the latter government's continuing occupation of the Golan Heights,held for 41 years now as booty from the 1967 war. Relations with Lebanon have improved since the withdrawal of Syrian troops a decade ago. Currently Syria is highly regarded for it's increasing role in the arts but is very isolated diplomatically; the standard of living is modern and literacy is high but per capita income is still sub-standard for what is a fairly Europeanized secular culture. On the plus side it is highly tolerant on cultural matters; it is 15-20% Christian and there is no persecution. Alcohol is permitted in restaurants. Damascus is a lovely modern city; any Westerner would feel more comfortable there than perhaps anywhere else in the Middle East. It is regarded as a terrorist-supporting nation for it's support of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian Territories but neither organization is legally a terrorist group under international law; the U.S. unilaterally so designated them and several EU countries have followed suit. Given Israel's intractabiltiy over the return of the Golan it is understandable they would support it's enemies,if only as a bargaining chip. (MORE)
the Syrian regime cracked down demonstrations, using live ammunition, and brutal repression against peaceful, unarmed protesters which lift the country in violation circle.