Syrian Arab Republic الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: "Homat el Diyar" "Guardians of the Land"
Capital		Damascus 33°30′N 36°18′E / 33.5°N 36.3°E / 33.5; 36.3
Largest city		Aleppo
Official language(s)		Arabic1
Demonym		Syrian
Government		Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic[1]
-	President	Bashar al-Assad
-	Prime Minister	Adel Safar
Legislature		People's Council
Independence
-	from France	17 April 1946
-	from the United Arab Republic	28 September 1961
Area
-	Total	185,180 km2 (89th) 71,479 sq mi
-	Water (%)	1.1
Population
-	July 2012 estimate	22,530,746[2] (53rd)
-	Density	118.3/km2 (101st) 306.5/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$107.831 billion[3]
-	Per capita	$5,040[3]
GDP (nominal)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$59.957 billion[3]
-	Per capita	$2,802[3]
HDI (2011)		0.632[4] (medium) (119th)
Currency		Syrian pound (SYP)
Time zone		EET (UTC+2)
-	Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Drives on the		Right
Internet TLD		.sy, سوريا.
Calling code		9632
1	Arabic is the official language; spoken languages and varieties are: Syrian Arabic, North Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurmanji Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, Turkish[5]
2	02 from Lebanon

Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية‎ Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah  Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), 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.

In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as 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.

The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).^[7]

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 in Syria. 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.^[8] Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1971.^[9]

Since 2011, the Syrian government has faced massive protests as part of the Arab Spring, has been suspended from the Arab League and has faced widespread criticism for its crackdown on protestors and armed groups which has resulted in thousands of casualties, according to the opposition. The Friends of Syria Group, a collection of Arab and Western governments opposed to the Assad government, recognized the Syrian National Council as "a legitimate representative" of Syrians protesting against the government.^[10] In addition, in late May 2012, a number of countries expelled Syrian diplomats in response to the Houla massacre, the execution of over 90 people in an attack that in total killed 108 people (among which 49 children and 34 women). ^[11]