Syria profile

Syria is a country in the Middle East. The capital is Damascus, one of the oldest cities in the world.

Syria lies on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Syria shares borders with Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. Syria and Israel do not agree on the location of their border.

A narrow plain runs along Syria’s western coast. Mountains lie east of the plain and in the southwest. East of the mountains is the Syrian Desert. Rock and gravel, not sand, cover the desert. Syria has two major rivers: the Orontes and the Euphrates.

Most of Syria has a dry climate with cold winters and very hot summers. The coast receives more rain and has milder temperatures.

There are some forests of yew, lime, pine, and fir trees in Syria’s mountains. Date palms grow near the Euphrates River. The Syrian Desert does not have many plants.

Syria is home to deer, bears, squirrels, wolves, hyenas, and foxes. Animals in the desert include snakes, lizards, gazelles, and jumping rodents called jerboas.

Arabs make up most of Syria’s population. A small group of Syria’s Arabs are Bedouins, people who herd animals in the deserts of the Middle East. After Arabs, the next largest group is the Kurds. Small groups of Armenians, Turks, and others also live in Syria. Arabic is the main language. Most people live near the coast or in the Euphrates River valley.

Most Syrians practice Islam. Christians make up a small part of the population. A small number of Syrians follow Druze, a religion that combines Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths.

Syria experienced a civil war starting in 2011. Many parts of the country were damaged, and the economy was disrupted. Before the war, the largest sections of the economy were agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. Farmers grew wheat, sugar beets, cotton, olives, grapes, and other crops. Many people raised sheep, goats, and cattle. Syria’s mines provided asphalt, salt, marble, and phosphates, which were used to make fertilizer. Manufacturers made cloth, cement, cooking oil, and other goods. Petroleum (oil) was the main product that Syria sold to other countries.

Humans have lived in what is now Syria for more than 4,500 years. Some of the earliest peoples wrote on clay tablets that still exist. The tablets tell about life in Syria at that time. Many other peoples—including Egyptians, Hittites, and Assyrians—invaded Syria in its early history. Syria later was controlled by the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek empires. In 64 bce the Romans conquered Syria.

Muslim Empires

In the 600s ce Muslim Arab armies invaded Syria. Muslim empires ruled Syria for most of the next 1,300 years. However, Christian Crusaders controlled some areas between about 1100 and 1300. The last of the Muslim empires to rule Syria was the Ottoman Empire. It took control in 1516.


In 1920 France gained control of Syria. Syria won independence from France in 1946. A series of military leaders then ruled Syria.

Beginning in 1948 Syria and other Arab nations fought several wars with Israel. In 1967 Israel took a piece of land called the Golan Heights from Syria.

In the 1970s Syria sent soldiers into Lebanon during a civil war there. Syrian forces stayed in Lebanon until early 2005. In 1991 Syria fought against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War.

In 2011 a democratic movement called the Arab Spring spread to Syria. Many Syrians began to protest the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Assad’s forces used violence to try to stop the protests. Many protesters were killed, but the uprising continued. By mid-2012 it had grown into a civil war. Leaders of other countries tried to bring an end to the civil war. This effort increased in 2013, after Assad was accused of using chemical weapons against the rebels. The fighting continued, but by October 2018 Assad’s forces had recaptured almost all of the territories held by rebels.

In 2013 Islamic militant groups began to take advantage of the upheaval in Syria. An extremist Islamic militant group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took over eastern areas of Syria. The group imposed a strict version of Shariʿah law there. The United States and other countries helped fight ISIL’s advance. By the end of November 2017 ISIL had been driven out of Syria.

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