Geography and Location
Syria is a country located in West Asia in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant region. It covers an area of 185,180 square kilometres (71,500 square miles) and borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The country shares land borders with Turkey to the north and northwest, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest.
A country of fertile plains, high mountains, plateaus, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups. Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Sunni Muslims are the largest religious group.
Capital and Population
Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. With a population of 26 million, Syria is the 56th-most populous country in the world and the 87th-largest by area.
Government and Administration
Syria is officially known as the Syrian Arab Republic and comprises 14 governorates. The country is currently a republic under a provisional government. In March 2025, the Syrian transitional government replaced the Syrian caretaker government under new Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Etymology
The name "Syria" is derived from the ancient Greek name Sýrioi or Sýroi, which originates from an 8th century BC Luwian term "Sura/i". Both ultimately derive from Aššūr (Assyria) in northern Mesopotamia. From the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BC) onwards, the term was applied to the Levant, and Greeks used it without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant.
The area designated by the word "Syria" has changed throughout history. Classically, Syria lay at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, between Arabia to the south and Asia Minor to the north, stretching inland to include parts of Iraq.
History
Ancient Period
The Natufian culture was the first to become sedentary around the 11th millennium BC and became one of the centers of Neolithic culture, where agriculture and cattle breeding first began. Archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded only by that of Mesopotamia.
The earliest recorded indigenous civilization in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib in northern Syria. Ebla appears to have been founded around 3500 BC and built its fortune through trade with Mesopotamian states and other peoples. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is a trading agreement from around 2300 BC known as the Treaty between Ebla and Abarsal.
Aleppo and Damascus are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. By the 21st century BC, Hurrians settled in northern and eastern parts of Syria while the rest of the region was dominated by the Amorites. Yamhad (modern Aleppo) dominated northern Syria for two centuries and was described as the mightiest state in the near east.
Modern History
Historically, the name "Syria" referred to the region known as Greater Syria and Syria-Palestine. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires. Damascus served as the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and as a provincial capital under the Mamluk Sultanate.
The modern Syrian state was established in the mid-20th century after centuries of Ottoman rule, as a French Mandate. It represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Syrian provinces. Syria gained de jure independence as a parliamentary republic in 1945 when the First Syrian Republic became a founding member of the United Nations, legally ending the French Mandate. French troops withdrew in April 1946, granting the nation de facto independence.
The post-independence period was tumultuous, with multiple coups and coup attempts between 1949 and 1971. In 1958, Syria entered a brief pan-Arab union with Egypt, which ended following a 1961 coup d'état. The 1963 coup d'état by the military committee of the Ba'ath Party established a one-party state, which ran Syria under martial law from 1963 to 2011. Internal power-struggles within Ba'athist factions led to further coups in 1966 and 1970, with the latter bringing Hafez al-Assad to power. Under Assad, Syria became a hereditary dictatorship. Assad died in 2000 and was succeeded by his son, Bashar.
Recent Conflict and Changes
Following the Arab Spring in 2011, Syria became embroiled in a multi-sided civil war with the involvement of several countries. This conflict led to a refugee crisis in which more than 6 million refugees were displaced from the country. In response to rapid territorial gains made by the Islamic State during 2014 and 2015, several countries intervened on behalf of various factions opposing it, leading to its territorial defeat in 2017 in central and eastern Syria.
After the initial phases of conflict, three political entities emerged in Syrian territory to challenge Assad's rule: the Syrian Interim Government, Syrian Salvation Government, and the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. In late 2024, a series of offensives from a coalition of opposition forces led to the capture of Damascus and the fall of Assad's regime. By 2025, the war had left Syria's economy in a poor state, following years of international sanctions that were later eased.