Membership of a religious community in Syria is ordinarily determined by birth. Based on statistical analyses from 2006, Muslims were estimated as constituting 87% to 90% (depending on whether Druze were included or not) of the total population, although their proportion was possibly greater and was certainly growing. The Muslim birthrate reportedly was higher than that of the minorities, and proportionately fewer Muslims were emigrating abroad.

Of the Syrian population, 74% were Sunnis (including Sufis), whereas 13% were Alawites, Ismailis and Twelvers combined. 3% were Druze, while the remaining 10-12% were Christians. Not all the Sunnis are Arabs. Most of the Kurds, who make up 10% of the population are officially Sunni, as are the Turks who encompass 3-5%. Thus Syria is at most 59-61% Sunni Arab.

A striking feature of religious life in Syria is the geographic distribution of the religious minorities. Most Christians live in Damascus and Aleppo, although significant numbers live in Al-Hasakah Province in northeastern Syria, Tartus and Latakia. Nearly 90 percent of the Alawis live in Latakia Province in the rural areas of the Jabal an Nusayriyah; they constitute over 80 percent of the rural population of the province. The Jabal al-Arab/Jabal al-Druze, a rugged and mountainous region in the southwest of the country, is more than 90 percent Druze inhabited; some 120 villages are exclusively so. The Twelvers Shia's are concentrated between Homs and Aleppo; they constitute nearly 15 percent of Hamah Province. The Ismaili Shia's are concentrated in the Salamiyah region of Hamah Province; approximately 10,000 more inhabit the mountains of Latakia Province. Most of the remaining Shia live in the region of Aleppo. The Jewish community is also centered in the Aleppo area, as are the Yazidis, many of whom inhabit the Jabal Siman and about half of whom live in the vicinity of Amuda in the Al-Jazira.

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, 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%).

Mohammad Salman (born 7 August 1981, Karachi) is an international cricketer from Pakistan. He is a right handed batsman and a wicketkeeper.

Salman made his international debut (in all formats) verses West Indies in the only T20 played at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia on 21 April 2011. His first dismissal in international cricket was the stumping of Marlon Samuels of the bowling of Saeed Ajmal.

In his debut match on 21 April 2011 verses the West Indies, he took one catch (Darren Sammy) and initiated one stumping (Marlon Samuels).

Salman the Persian or Salmān al-Fārsī (Arabic: سلمان الفارسي‎ Salman al-Farsi; in Persian: روزبه‎ Rouzbeh) was one of Muhammad's companions.

During some of his later meetings with the other Sahabah, he was referred to as Abu Abdullah ("Father of Abdullah").

Salman the Persian was born either in the city of Kazerun in Fars Province, or Isfahan in Isfahan Province, Iran.

It was Salman who came up with the idea of digging a great trench around the city of Medina to defend the city and its people from the army of 10,000 non-Muslims of Arabia. Muhammad and his companions agreed and accepted Salman's plan because it was safer and there would be a better chance that the non-Muslim army of Arabia would have a larger number of casualties. Salman came up with the idea from remembering the same thing happening in Persia; when the Persians learned that their enemies planned to invade their territory, they dug a trench around them to be safe. The attack that the Muslims had expected, is known as the Battle of the Trench.

The Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.

The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf War, Gulf War I, or the Iraq War, before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the U.S. as "Operation Iraqi Freedom").

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost was paid by Saudi Arabia.