29 Facts About Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia that borders the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant.

Syria is a Middle Eastern country bordered by Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Syria is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations. Human remains dating back 700,000 years have been discovered in the area.

Syria derives its name from Assyria, an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia that served as the centre of one of the ancient Middle East's great empires. It was in what is now northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey.

Several empires occupied and ruled Syria during ancient times, including the Egyptians, Hittites, Sumerians, Mitanni, Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Amorites, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.

Syria was a part of the Ottoman Empire for more than 400 years (1516-1918).

Syria is home to the world's oldest library. The ancient city of Ebla was discovered in 1974, along with approximately 1,800 clay tablets dating from around 3,000 BC.

Syria retains the ancient language of Aramaic. Aramaic was the lingua franca of many ancient civilizations, including Greece and Egypt. It is now only spoken in a few villages in Syria, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, and Georgia.

When Pope John Paul II visited the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus in 2001, he became the first pope to enter a mosque.

The Umayyad Mosque (or Great Mosque of Damascus) is the oldest stone mosque still standing. It was built between 705 and 715 and is widely regarded as Islam's fourth holiest place of worship.

Syria has been embroiled in a bitter civil war since 2011, sparked by the Arab Spring. It has since evolved into a complex war that has killed at least 400,000 Syrians and displaced 5.6 million refugees.

As a result, Syria has the lowest net migration rate in the world, with a negative (-) 5,386,986 net total of migrants over a five-year period.

According to the 2021 International SOS Travel Risk Map, Syria is one of the world's nine most dangerous countries. It has been classified as a 'extreme travel security risk'.

Syria has been declared to be in a state of emergency for the past 48 years. Following protests since its inception in 1962, the emergency law was finally repealed in 2011.

Syria has struggled with stability since its independence, with several conflicts with neighbouring countries. Following the 1967 Six Day War, Israel continues to occupy a portion of the Golan Heights. 

Shouting Valley (or Shouting Hill) is a valley in Syria that separates Ein al-Teinia from Majdal al-Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Shouting Valley got its name because families used loudhailers to communicate with estranged relatives across the landmined and fenced-off gap. Although mobile phones and the internet have reduced the need to shout, people remain separated from their families.

Syria is one of 17 countries deemed completely unsafe for tourists to visit, according to the UK Foreign Office.

Syria was governed by France following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I until it gained independence in 1946, following the Second World War.

Syria was a member of the short-lived Syrian-Egyptian union known as the United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1961.

Syria's flag is horizontally striped red, white, and black, with two green stars on the white stripe. The flag is identical to that of the former United Arab Republic (1958-1961), where the two stars represented Syria and Egypt. The colours represent oppression (black), revolution (red), and hope for the future (white).

Syria is one of the world's most heavily smoked-in countries. According to the latest edition of the Tobacco Atlas, the average Syrian smokes 2,291 cigarettes per year.

Syrians, on the other hand, are among the world's lightest drinkers. The average Syrian consumes only 0.3 litres of alcohol per year, ranking them ninth in the world.

Damascus, Syria's UNESCO-listed capital, is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Damascus was founded around the third millennium BC and is mentioned in the book of Genesis.

Syria has six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which include the ancient cities of Aleppo, Bosra, Damascus, and Palmyra, as well as the ancient villages of Northern Syria and the crusader castles of Crac des Chevaliers and Qal'at Salah El-Din.

Aleppo was a major trading post along the Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes connecting China and the West, during the Middle Ages.

The ancient Roman city of Palmyra, known as the "Venice of the Sands," saw many of its statues, temples, and sites destroyed in 2015 when the militant group Isis took control of the area.

Syria is one of the most unequal countries in terms of gender equality. Syria was ranked fourth worst for gender equality in the 2020 Global Gender Gap Index.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, satellite imagery has revealed that Syria has become 83% darker at night. The lack of lighting is the result of people fleeing the country, leaving behind darkened homes as well as destroyed buildings and power infrastructure, leaving vast areas without electricity.

Syria is part of an area known as the Fertile Crescent, also known as the "Cradle of Civilization". The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped area of fertile land that includes parts of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Cyprus.