Syria

Syria

Syria, or (formally: the Syrian Arab Republic) since 1961, is an Arab country that is a central republic, consisting of 14 governorates, with its capital and largest city being Damascus. It is located in the Middle East region in Western Asia; bordered by Turkey, to the east by Iraq, to ​​the south of Jordan, to the west of Palestine, Lebanon, and the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of ​​185,180 square kilometers, terrain and diverse plant and animal cover, and the climate varies between Mediterranean and semi-arid. Syria is classified alongside Iraq as the oldest site of the cradle of human civilization, and its name is derived according to the most academic theories from Assyria; in any case, the historical region of Syria is different from the modern Syrian state in terms of span and area, and the first refers to the Levant, or the Fertile Crescent.

The Syrian people, of the developing peoples, are racially, linguistically and religiously diverse, and Arab-Syrian Arabs constitute the majority with about 63% of the total population; there are many cultural features of the people as a whole. The most prominent cities with a population of more than two million people, Aleppo, and Damascus; the population is currently 22.5 million, and immigration has been active since the nineteenth century and there are huge communities of Syrians abroad. Syria is considered a developing country, with a weak economy, an under-average income level, and widespread corruption. The economy was socialist and did not begin to reform and gradually abandon it effectively until after the year 2000; basically the economy depends on agriculture, tourism, and services, with internal wealth, Some of them are not yet invested.

Syria is located in the southwestern part of the continent of Asia; Syria overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and the length of the coastline is 193 km, while the total border borders are 2253 km and it is distributed between Turkey in the north and Iraq in the east and south, and Jordan in the south, and from the west to On the Mediterranean side, Syria borders Lebanon and Israel, between latitudes 32 - 37.5 north of the equator, and between longitudes 35.5 to 42 east of Greenwich, with an area of ​​185,000 km2.

The country's terrain is varied: in the south lies the volcanic plateau of the Golan and the fertile Houran Valley, followed by Jabal al-Arab consisting mainly of basaltic rocks. Towards the north, there is the West Lebanon mountain range on the border with Lebanon, which contains the highest point in the country, namely Mount Hermon or Hermon.

The fertile plains of Ghouta form Damascus, before it turns into barren, barren mountainous lands in the Qalamoun and Nabak mountain ranges to the north of Damascus countryside, before it extends again in the Al-Ghab Plain and the plains of the Syrian coast, which is longitudinally divided by the Sahel mountain range extending from the Turkish border to Lebanon.

And Jabal al-Zawiyah is a reserve for him. In the far north of Syria, Aleppo is located on a plateau surrounded by fertile plains with some mountains such as Mount Samaan; it meets the fertile soil of the Euphrates Valley that extends to the Iraqi border; and it is located in the far northeast of the Al-Jazeera region, which has gained its name from the large number of rivers in it, which It is also considered one of the most fertile regions of the country. Between the Valley of the Euphrates and the Plain of the Ghab, there is the Badiyat al-Sham, sandy and arid, with a few mountains, such as the Palmyra mountain range.

In Syria, there is one island opposite Tartous, which is Arwad Island, and a number of valleys such as Wadi al-Nasara and Wadi Barada.

Syria is rich in water resources, whether it is rivers, lakes, or underground springs. The largest river passing in Syria is the Euphrates, which enters Syria from Turkey and traverses its eastern region towards Iraq, and its course length in the lands of the Republic is 675 km, in addition to a number of main tributaries, most notably the Balkh River with a length of 460 km and the Khabour River.

The 50-km long Tigris River passes into Syria in the far northeast, along the Iraqi border. The third of the Syrian rivers in length is the Orontes River, which enters Syria from Lebanon with a length of 325 km and forms the main nerve of the agricultural areas in the Al-Ghab Plain. Al-Sharqiya passes through Damascus and its Ghouta before it empties into Lake Al-Otaiba in the Badia, and forms the water portfolio of the city of Damascus and its countryside.

As for the south, the most important of its rivers is the Yarmouk River, which follows its path westward, meets the Jordan River, before emptying into the Dead Sea. The state has built a large number of dams on various passing rivers in the country, the most important of which is the Euphrates Dam, which forms an artificial lake behind it with a capacity of 14.1 billion cubic meters of water; and other important dams, the Rastan Dam on the Orontes, and the 16th October Dam on the Northern Grand River.

Syria contains a number of natural and artificial lakes formed behind the dams, the largest of which is Lake al-Assad, the seven lakes near Latakia, the Lake of April 17 on the Afrin River and Lake Al-Rastan on the Al-Asi River, which was established in 1960; And Masada Lake in the Golan, which is characterized by its sulfur water.

The vegetation in Syria is diverse in the central and western regions, and this is contradictory in the Badia Al-Sham and the whole eastern region. Syria contains thirty natural reserves; Lattakia is considered the richest Syrian governorate in terms of forests and vegetation with 31% of the total forests of the Republic, followed by the Al-Ghab Plain area with about 12%.

About 3,500 species of plants and trees live in Syria. As for animal cover, it is in turn diversified, but a few animals that lived in Syria, such as the Syrian elephant or leopard, have become completely extinct, and desertification plays an important role in eliminating plant and animal diversity in Syria, and it threatens 18% of the total public area. The Syrian government is seeking to combat desertification through special plans developed for that.

The population of Syria, according to the United Nations estimates, reached in 2017 at the beginning of July about 18,270 million people, with a negative population growth rate of -2.30%, while the birth rate was estimated at about 18.9 births per thousand people, compared to 5.4 births of deaths per thousand people as well; 56.1% of the total population of cities.

The city of Aleppo is the largest Syrian city, while Greater Damascus is characterized by the largest population, and 44% of the total population live in both regions. The population increased from 4.5 million in 1960 to 23.5 million (according to estimates in the year 2010), due to the improvement in the standard of living and health status, while the fertility rate decreased from 7 children per woman on average during the middle of the twentieth century to 3 children today, with the survival of This number is above the global average set as 2.1 children for women; this rapid population increase has had a negative impact on the economy and development.

In addition to the cities with a population of more than two million, namely Damascus and Aleppo, the cities that have exceeded or nearly a million people are Homs, Hama, and Latakia; the rest of the population lives in small towns, and the countryside, along with a few groups of Bedouins in the Badia of the Levant.

The country suffers from the inflation of large cities such as Damascus and Aleppo, supported by migration from the countryside to the city, which negatively affects development; in general, the population density is high in the coastal region, the plain of the Ghab, Jabal Al-Zawiya, the capital, Damascus and its countryside, and the city of Aleppo, and it is less than the island and the Euphrates Valley, and there is no Almost in the desert of the Levant.

Since the nineteenth century, immigration from Syria to the new world has flourished, especially Latin America, and the approximate number of people of Syrian origin is estimated at 12-15 million people. With their right to obtain Syrian citizenship, most of them do not have it, and in the current period, migration to a region The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, which has the least demographic impact on the country due to geographical proximity on the one hand, and lack of naturalization in the diaspora countries on the other hand.

Since ancient times, Syria has been the home of many migrations, or alternative settlement such as the migration of Circassians in the nineteenth century, or military teams and merchants who settled permanently in the country such as Turkmen, Arnaout, and the most recent migrations are the migration of some clans from Najd to the Euphrates Valley in the late seventeenth century, And Armenian immigration during the First World War, and the emigration of Palestinians from Syria in the aftermath of the wars of 1948 and 1967, and migration from the Golan after the 1967 war as well, and Iraqi migration after the 2003 invasion.

The Syrian people are made up of seven different ethnicities, nine denominations considering Christian churches one sect, and 19 denominations considering Christian churches as separate denominations. The constitution provides for equal rights and duties for all Syrians. On the religious level, according to the doctrines of the Sunnis and the community, especially the Hanafi school of thought, Islam is the most widespread among Syrians by about 74%.

The constitution states that it is the main religion of the state and Hanafi jurisprudence is a major source of legislation in it. The constitution guarantees to all other sects its own laws in personal status. It also guarantees religious freedom even if it is restricted in some respects according to the “Religious Freedom in the World” report. Islamic through the Ministry of Awqaf, while Christian institutions are independent.

At the level of ethnic groups, after Arabization, the Arabs of Syria have become the main source of population in the country, at about 86%. Syria is characterized by the high proportions of "minorities" in certain regions and forming a majority in them, such as the Syrian coast and the western Assi Valley with an overwhelming majority, and the Syrian island with a Kurdish-Syriac majority, and Jabal al-Arab with a Druze majority.

The mainly developing Syrian economy has largely declined due to the Syrian crisis, contracting by 20% during 2013,

 With the extensive destruction of the infrastructure needed for it, and the poverty rate rising to more than 50% of the population,

 With unemployment reaching 39%,

With large numbers of unemployed young people, recent graduates, and those working in fields lower than the fields of their studies, these results are considered the worst in the world, attached to southern Sudan. In addition, the collapse of the national currency, the Syrian pound, to lose between 2012 and 2013 about 200% of its value.

With inflationary results and reduced purchasing power of the citizen. Some optimistic reports talked about the possibility of an "accelerated recovery" of the economy, after the war stopped and the beginning to focus on the economic side, due to previous economic experiences. For example, in 1970, Syria's GDP was $ 136 million, and rose to $ 1.024 billion in 1980. That is, it has increased tenfold in ten years.

Since 1963, the Syrian state has moved towards a socialist economic policy, which is fully oriented, and after 2000 began to reform the economy and move towards an open market economy, achieving high economic growth rates, and the level of income has improved while remaining lower than neighboring countries; for example the nominal GDP The country was $ 46.5 billion, which is a figure close to Lebanon's total nominal output of $ 42.5 billion, although Syria is eighteen times larger than Lebanon in terms of area, almost five times in terms of population, and richer in terms of natural resources, and this is mainly due to Socialist policies in Syria, Lebanon's adoption of the open market system.

Syria suffers from high rates of corruption, and the country is considered one of the ten most corrupt countries in the world. The economy also suffers from the inability to create new job opportunities to suit the size of the labor market increase estimated at about 200 thousand new workers annually, with a total of about 7.5 million workers in 2012, which is What led to the high rates of migration among university youth towards the countries of the world, especially the Arab Gulf states; there is also a large economic and service disparity between major cities such as Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Latakia, and between the countryside such as Atarib or Taftanaz. In a survey conducted in 2011, only 4.7% of Syrians expressed their "satisfaction" with life.