SYRIA

Syria’s official language is Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), but if you were to visit, you would hear people speaking the Levantine dialect [i] known as “Shaami” Arabic. The Shaami dialect is spoken in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan: the countries in the Levant region. The Levantine dialect is so different from MSA that the two are not mutually intelligible [ii]. Depending on where you are in the Levant, the ق (qawf) letter will be pronounced differently [iii]. The sounds vary from the MSA qawf pronunciation, an emphatic K sound pronounced in the throat, replaced by the hamza (ء) sound, or a hard “G” sound.

The customs observed in Syria are centered around Islamic culture and traditions. Much of the population lives separated by religious groups. The Alawi, a branch of Shia Islam, are primarily concentrated in Syria’s coastal region to the east. The Druze, a monotheistic religious minority, can be found in the mountainous south western part of the country, near the Jordanian border. In Syria you can find bustling cities filled with historic sites such as Damascus and Aleppo, and plenty of smaller, more remote rural towns outside of the metropolitan areas. Damascus is known as the oldest continually inhabited city in the world.

Syria is a predominantly Muslim country [iv], with almost 90% of the population identifying as such. Sunni Arabs account for 64%, making up the largest ethno-sectarian group. 12% are Alawi, a distant branch of Shia Islam that includes the al-Assad family. Syria is also home to a smaller, sizable minority of Christians. Like most countries in the MENA (Middle East, North Africa) region, identities and sectarian groups are nuanced and not homogenous. Oftentimes, the civil war in Syria is framed as ‘sectarian’ that assumes political loyalty based on those ties. The regime has utilized sectarianism [v] and manipulated sectarian identities to fuel conflict.

The current president of the Syrian Arab Republic is Bashar al-Assad. Bashar al-Assad, at 34 years old, became president after his father died in 2000 and the minimum age to become president quickly changed from 40 to 34. The Assad regime has continuously been accused of human rights abuses [vi], which has contributed to the civil unrest in the country. Today, Bashar al-Assad remains in power, with many international actors such as the United States and Russia acting by proxy in their own interests. All the political parties in Syria [vii] are linked to the National Progressive Front, dominated by the Ba’ath party.

The currency used in Syria is the Syrian pound [viii], issued by the Central Bank of Syria. The government in Syria controls most of the economy and private business because socialism became the official economic policy in 1963. Agriculture is an immensely important source of income to the economy, with olive oil as Syria’s top export [ix]. Prior to the civil war, the Syrian economy had begun to liberalize through several initiatives including the creation of private banks and the Damascus Stock Exchange. The economy in Syria [x] has declined by more than 70% from 2010 to 2017 due to the ongoing civil war.

The name Syria derives from a Semetic term Siryon [xi], which is used in the Bible to reference a modern day mountain region between Syria and Lebanon. The nationalist ideas of Syria first arrived in the mid-nineteenth century, brought from Europe by Middle East Christians. In 1958, Syria joined Egypt to form the United Arab Republic, which fell apart a few short years later in 1961. In 1963, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party [xii] seized power in a coup d’etat. Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, then Syrian minister of defence, overthrew the de-facto leader and remained in power until his death in 2000.

Located in the heart of the Middle East, most of Syria is semi-arid desert [xiii]. There are mountains and a small coastal area along the Mediterrean Sea in the west. The northeast is rich with natural resources such as petroleum, rock salt, and marble. To the east you will find the Syrian Desert, and in the south is the Jabal al-Druze Range (a volcanic mountain range). Wild animal life is sparse [xiv] in Syria, but sometimes wolves, hyenas, or foxes can be found in remote areas. Syria is home to 6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the ancient cities of Aleppo and Damascus.