Syria

Coordinates: 35°N 38°E / 35°N 38°E / 35; 38

Syria (ⁱ/ˈsɪ.rɪə/; Arabic: سوريا‎ or سورية, Sūriyā or Sūrīyah), officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia. De jure Syrian territory borders 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, but the government's control now extends to approximately 30–40% of the de jure state area and less than 60% of the population.

A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Syrian Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians,Mandeans and Turks. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, and Yazidis. Sunni Arabs make up the largest population group in Syria.

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 3rd millennium BC. Its capital Damascus is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. In the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt.

Bashar al-Assad

Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بشار حافظ الأسد‎ Baššār Ḥāfiẓ al-ʾAsad,  pronunciation  Levantine pronunciation: [baʃˈʃaːr ˈħaːfezˤ elˈʔasad]; born 11 September 1965) is the President of Syria, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces, General Secretary of the ruling Ba'ath Party and Regional Secretary of the party's branch in Syria. On 10 July 2000, he was elected president succeeding Hafez al-Assad, his father, who had led Syria for 30 years and died in office a month prior. In both the Syrian presidential election, 2000 and subsequent 2007 election, Bashar Assad received votes in his favor in the upper 90th percentile in uncontested elections where other candidates were not permitted to run against him. On 16 July 2014, Bashar Assad was sworn in for a new seven-year term, after his victory in the controversial June presidential election against two regime sanctioned candidates, the first contested presidential election in Ba'athist Syria's history.

Assad graduated from the medical school of Damascus University in 1988, and started to work as a doctor in the army. Four years later, he attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital, in London, specialising in ophthalmology. In 1994, after his elder brother Bassel was killed in a car crash, Bashar was recalled to Syria to take over Bassel's role as heir apparent. He entered the military academy, taking charge of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon in 1998. In December 2000, Assad married Asma Assad, born Akhras.

People & Power

People & Power is a current affairs programme on Al Jazeera English which broadcasts once a week, on Wednesdays, and repeated throughout the week. The show is also shown on Al Jazeera America once a week on Thursdays.

Each half-hour programme features one investigative documentaries on an issue related to power from around the world. The programme occasionally has one-hour specials.

History

People & Power was launched on November 15, 2006 when Al Jazeera English launched.

The programme originally had a presenter. It was hosted by Shereen El Feki but she was replaced by a new presenter, Samah El-Shahat, a development economist, in March 2007. Juliana Ruhfus was the programme’s main reporter and occasional presenter. Her film on the ex-combatants in Liberia launched the programme the day Al Jazeera went on air.

The show introduced several regular slots. A series called ‘If I had the Power’ asked people in the street what they would do if they had the power of President of the United States George W. Bush for the day. Five minute long ‘Power of One’ films look at how one person has changed the lives of a community through their own actions. These slots are no longer shown.

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