Syria?

Syrian Arab Republic
الجمهورية العربية السورية
Al-Jumhūrīyah Al-ʻArabīyah As-Sūrīyah
FlagCoat of arms
Anthem: "حماة الديار" (Arabic)
Guardians of the Homeland
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CapitalDamascus
33°30′N 36°18′E
Largest cityAleppo
Official languagesArabic
GovernmentUnitary single-party
semi-presidential republic[1][A]
 -PresidentBashar al-Assad
 -Prime MinisterWael Nader al-Halqi
 -Speaker of the People's CouncilMohammad Jihad al-Laham
LegislaturePeople's Council
 -Proclamation of Arab Kingdom of Syria8 March 1920 
 -State of Syriaestablished under French Mandate1 December 1924 
 -Syrian Republicestablished by merger of States of Jabal Druze, Alawites and Syria1930 
 -Independence from France recognized1 January 1944 
 -Last French troops leave17 April 1946 
 -Secession from the
United Arab Republic
28 September 1961 
 -Ba'ath party takespower8 March 1963 
Area
 -Total185,180[2] km2 (89th)
71,479 sq mi
 -Water (%)1.1
Population
 -July 2012 estimate17,951,639 (2014 est.)[3](54th)
 -Density118.3/km2 (101st)
306.5/sq mi
GDP (PPP)2010 estimate
 -Total$107.831 billion[4]
 -Per capita$5,040[4]
GDP (nominal)2010 estimate
 -Total$59.957 billion[4]
 -Per capita$2,802[4]
Gini (2004)35.8[5]
medium
HDI (2013)Decrease 0.473[6]
low · 166th
CurrencySyrian pound (SYP)
Time zoneEET (UTC+2)
 -Summer (DST)EEST (UTC+3)
Drives on theright
Calling code+963[B]
ISO 3166 codeSY
Internet TLD.syسوريا.
  1. Jump up^ Government has limited control across the country. See Syrian civil war
  2. Jump up^ 02 from Lebanon


Syria (Listeni/ˈsɪ.rɪə/ sih-ree-ə Arabicسوريا‎ or سوريةSūriyā orSūrīyah), officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west,Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. Its capital Damascus is among the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.[7] A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including the majority Arab population. Other ethnic groups include Aramean-Syriac ChristiansArmeniansAssyriansKurds,Circassians,[8] MhallamiMandeans[9] and Turks. Religious groups include SunniChristiansAlawiteDruzeMandeanism and Yezidi. Sunni Arabs make up the largest population group in Syria.
In English, the name "Syria" was formerly synonymous with the Levant(known in Arabic as al-Sham) while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblancivilization of the 3rd millennium BC. In the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of theMamluk Sultanate in Egypt.
The modern Syrian state was established after World War I as aFrench mandate, and represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Arab Levant. It gained independence in April 1946, as a parliamentary republic. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a large number of military coups and coup attempts shook the country in the period 1949–1971. Between 1958-61, Syria entered a brief union with Egypt, which was terminated by a military coup. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, and its system of government is considered to be non-democratic.[10]Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000.[11]
Syria is a member of one international organization other than the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement; it is currently suspended from the Arab League[12] and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,[13] and self-suspended from the Union for the Mediterranean.[14] Since March 2011, Syria has been embroiled in anuprising against Assad and the Ba'athist regime as part of the Arab Spring, a crackdown which contributed to the Syrian Civil War and Syria becoming among the least peaceful countries in the world.[15]The Syrian Interim Government was formed by the opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition, in March 2012. Representatives of this government were subsequently invited to take up Syria's seat at the Arab League.
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