- published: 05 Jun 2014
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The Syrian opposition (Arabic: المعارضة السورية al-Muʕaraḍah as-Sūrīyah Arabic pronunciation: [ʔalmuʕaɾaˈdˤa ʔas.suːˈɾiːja]) is an umbrella term for the political entity represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated anti-regime Syrian groups with certain territorial control and an alternative Syrian government, claiming to represent the legitimate Syrian Arab Republic. The Syrian opposition evolved since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, from groups calling for regime change in Syria and who have opposed its Ba'athist government. Prior to the Syrian Civil War, the term "opposition" (Arabic "mu'araDah") had been used to refer to traditional political actors, for example the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change; that is, groups and individuals who have had a history of dissidence against the Syrian state.
The first opposition structures to form in the Syrian uprising were local protest-organizing committees. These formed in April, 2011, as protesters graduated from spontaneous protests to protests organized by meetings beforehand.
The Syrian people (Arabic: الشعب السوري / ALA-LC: al-sha‘ab al-Sūrī; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܝܢ) are the inhabitants of Syria, and their ancestors who share a common Levantine Semitic ancestry. The term also refers to the citizens of Syria, regardless of ancestry, mother tongue, ethnic identity, or culture.
The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years.
The Syrian republic has a population of nearly 17 million as of 2014, in addition to 4 million Syrian refugees. The dominant racial group is the Syrian descendants of the old indigenous peoples who mixed with Arabs and identify themselves as such in addition to ethnic Aramean. The country also includes the following ethnic minorities: Armenians, Assyrians, Circassians, Greeks, Kurds, and Turkmens.
The Syrian diaspora consists of 15 million people of Syrian ancestry, who emigrated to North America (United States and Canada), European Union member states (including Sweden, France and Germany), South America (mainly in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Colombia), Australia, and Africa.
Opposition may mean or refer to: