Syria , 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. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Turks, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shias and Arab Sunnis. The latter make up the majority of the population.
Until 1920 the name “Syria ” is used to denote a larger geographical and historical region that included the entire territory of Lebanon , Jordan , Israel, the current West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as small areas in the south of Turkey and north -west Iraq. The region is sometimes called the Great Syria, extended from the Taurus Mountains to the Sinai Peninsula , covering the entire east coast of the Mediterranean Sea from Gaza in the south to Antioch (modern Antakya ) to the north. Greater Syria was an important part of the ancient Hellenic world , and then the Roman and Byzantine empires , and the spread in the 7th century . Islam became the center of the Arab- Muslim civilization. For 400 years , until 1918 , the Great Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire. With the weakening of the 19th century. Istanbul has increased the power of penetration in the region and in Europe at the same time there was an Arab movement . After the defeat of the Ottoman Sultanate in the First World War the reins in the region have moved to the European powers . On the mandate of the League of Nations France established the administrative and political border between Syria and Lebanon. The same is done in the United Kingdom of Transjordan and Palestine , which she opened for large-scale immigration of Jews , previously promised to create a ” Jewish national state.” In the 1940s , after the sunset of the colonial empires during and immediately after World War II , these Arab region gained independence , and only a large part of Palestine was a part of the state of Israel . The area of modern Syria is 185 180 sq. m. km , population – 16,673 million (1998 ) . In 1990 on the territory also lived about 340 thousand Palestinian refugees and their descendants. In 1967, approx. 1150 square meters. km Syrian territory in the Golan Heights , in the south of Syria were occupied by Israel .
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 Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world,[6] was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
Syria has been in the news almost daily for the last 17 months. Over 18,000 people have lost their lives. And recent developments including the defection of the Prime Minister, and the bombing deaths of both the country’s Defense Minister and also President Assad’s brother-in-law–the Deputy Defense Minister, have caused the situation to deteriorate even further.
The modern Syrian state was established after the First World War as a French 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 and 1961, 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.[7] 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.
Will Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Hizbullah eliminate Israel? That is the threat of a Hizbullah general who declared that if Iraq falls to Iran (as U.S. troops leave), Iran will use it as a bridge to galvanize Syria. Then Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Hizbullah will wipe out Israel. Things appear to be headed in that direction; however, God has a very different plan in store. Let us see what that might be, beginning with Syria.
Over the past five months, the protest movement in Syria-against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad-has grown week by week. So Assad, taking a page from the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has responded with violent brutality. As of last week, Assad has responded to protests in Syria by murdering 2,675 people, including 158 children below the age of 14. In addition, Assad’s security forces have arrested 16,000 with another 4,382 missing. Furthermore, since protests began in March, there have been 28 documented cases of rape and 89 cases of death as a result of torture.
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[9] and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and self suspended from the Union for the Mediterranean
Syria Martyrs’ Day: May 6, 2010 – Martyrs’ Day is a public holiday in Syria.
Syria shares the celebration of Martyr’s Day with Lebanon on the 6th of May every year. The holiday commemorates the death of both Syria and Lebanon’s nationalists during the occupation by the Ottoman Empire. The nationalists were executed on May 6, 1916 in Marjeh Square (Damascus, Syria) and Burj Square (Beirut, Lebanon) respectively by the Ottoman Young Turk Ahmed Djemal or more commonly known as Jamal Pasha.
History of Syria Martyrs’ Day Syria has been under the control of the Ottoman Empire since the latter part of the 15th century until the downfall of the latter on May 1916.
The march towards Syrian independence was long and bloody. The earlier part of the 20th century saw the birth of Syrian intellectuals who heavily campaigned for the independence of Syria from the Ottoman rule. The clandestine conferences and meetings they had with other intellectuals in Paris, France were made known to the Turks. As a result, Sultan Abdul Hamid ordered the arrest of these Arab leaders and forced to renounce their nationalist ideals and plans towards a democratic and independent Syria. However, the nationalists bravely stood by their resolve and bravely faced their destiny so that in May 6, 1916, all of them were executed by hanging in Damascus and Beirut.
Since March 2011, Syria has been embroiled in civil war in the wake of uprisings (considered an extension of the Arab Spring, the mass movement of revolutions and protests in the Arab world) against Assad and the neo-Ba’athist government. An alternative 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. The opposition coalition has been recognised as the “sole representative of the Syrian people” by several nations including the United States, United Kingdom and France.