|
Description
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, some 90% of the Syrian population is...
(via Freebase)
|
![Syrian soldiers 'killed' in Rastan clashes [Future TV, Lebanon]](/images/image_cache/base-4418000/4418340/thumbnail.crop=center,width=304,height=171,grow=1.jpg?sig=500f6d78a47b49e925202900f6da2be6)
![Mass protests break out in Syria after bombings [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-4369000/4369017/thumbnail.crop=center,width=304,height=171,grow=1.jpg?sig=aef495b6435ebe6a90f166d64d2e49c5)
![Devastating bombings hit Syrian capital as the blame game continues [New TV, Lebanon]](/images/image_cache/base-4227000/4227483/thumbnail.crop=center,width=304,height=171,grow=1.jpg?sig=17344411421f30a7c11f27052d0a7853)
