Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, 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. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for 30 years prior to his death. Al-Assa... Explore this topic

The Free Syrian Army is an armed opposition structure operating in Syria during the Syrian civil war. Composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel and volunteers, its formation was announced on 29 July 2011 in a video released on the internet by a uniformed group of dese... Explore this topic

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam; its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, "people of the tradition of Muhammad and the consensus of the Ummah" or ahl as-sunnah. For short, in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites or... Explore this topic

The Alawites, also known as Alawis, Nusayris and Ansaris are a prominent mystical religious group centred in Syria who follow a branch of the Twelver school of Shia Islam. They were long persecuted for their beliefs by the various rulers of Syria, until Hafez al-Assad took pow... Explore this topic

Syria and Iran are strategic allies. Syria is often called Iran's "closest ally", ideological conflict between the Arab nationalism ideology of Syria's secular ruling Baath party and the Islamic Republic of Iran's pan-Islamist policies notwithstanding. Iran and Syria have had ... Explore this topic

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a re... Explore this topic

The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the e... Explore this topic

The roughly 26 million inhabitants of Syria are an overall indigenous Levantine people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history, they are, in fact, largely a blend of the various Aram... Explore this topic