An Asian republic in the Middle East at the east end of the Mediterranean.
Country in W Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea, bounded N by Turkey, E by Iraq, S by Jordan, and SW by Israel and Lebanon.
government
The 1973 constitution provides for a president, elected by universal adult suffrage for a seven-year term, who appoints and governs with the help of a prime minister and a council of ministers. There is a single-chamber, 250-member legislature, the Majlis al-Sha'ab, also elected by universal adult suffrage.
history
Ancient Syria was inhabited by various small kingdoms that fought against Israel and were subdued by the Assyrians. It was subsequently occupied by Babylonia, Persia, and Macedonia but gained prominence under Seleucus Nicator, founder of Antioch 300 BC, and Antiochus the Great. After forming part of the Roman and Byzantine empires, it was conquered by the Saracens 636. During the Middle Ages, Syria was the scene of many battles between Muslims and European Crusaders.
Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire 1516–1918. It was occupied by British and French troops 1918–19 and in 1920 placed under French mandate. Syria became independent 1946 and three years later came under military rule.
military coup
In 1958 Syria merged with Egypt to become the United Arab Republic, but after an army coup 1961 Syria seceded, and the independent Syrian Arab Republic was established. In 1963 a government was formed, mainly from members of the Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'ath) Party, but three years later the army removed it. In 1970 the moderate wing of the Ba'ath Party, led by Lt Gen Hafez al-Assad, secured power in a bloodless coup, and in the following year Assad was elected president. He also became head of government, secretary-general of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, and president of the National Progressive Front, an umbrella organization for the five main socialist parties. Syria is therefore in reality, if not in a strictly legal sense, a one-party state.
Middle East affairs
Externally Syria has played a leading role in Middle East affairs. In the Six-Day War 1967 it lost territory to Israel, and after the Yom Kippur War 1973 Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights, which had previously been part of Syria. During 1976 Assad increasingly intervened in the civil war in Lebanon, eventually committing some 50,000 troops to the operations. Relations between Syria and Egypt cooled after President Sadat's Israel peace initiative 1977 and the subsequent Camp David Agreements. Assad opposed US-sponsored peace moves in Lebanon, arguing that they infringed upon Lebanese sovereignty. He also questioned Yassir Arafat's leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization and supported opposition to him.
leaning toward the West
In 1984 President Assad and the Lebanese president Amin Gemayel approved plans for a government of national unity in Lebanon, which would give equal representation to Muslims and Christians, and secured the reluctant agreement of Nabih Berri of the Shiite Amal Militia and Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Druse. Fighting still continued, and Assad's credibility suffered, but in 1985 his authority proved sufficient to secure the release of 39 US hostages from an aircraft hijacked by the extremist Shiite group Hezbollah. In Nov 1986 Britain broke off diplomatic relations after claiming to have proof of Syrian involvement in international terrorism, when a Syrian citizen attempted to blow up an Israeli plane at Heathrow, London. In July 1987 Syria instigated a crackdown on the pro-Iranian Hezbollah party.
Syria leant increasingly toward to the West, its policies in Lebanon in direct conflict with Iran's dream of an Islamic republic, and its crumbling economy was promised Arab aid if Damascus switched allegiance. In June 1987, following a private visit by former US president Jimmy Carter, Syria's relations with the US began to improve, and efforts were made to arrange the release of Western hostages in Lebanon, a process that continued through 1991. After Iraq's invasion of Kuwait Aug 1990, Syria sided with other Arab states and the United Nations (UN) coalition against Iraq, contributing troops for the Gulf War. In Nov 1990 full diplomatic relations with Britain were resumed, and in 1991 President Assad agreed to a US Middle East peace plan. In Dec Assad was reelected, unopposed, for a fourth term. In the Aug 1994 assembly elections the Ba'ath Party was returned to its dominant position.
In 1993 Syria joined other Arab countries, including Iraq, in boycotting a UN treaty banning production and use of chemical weapons. In 1994 Israel offered partial withdrawal from the Golan Heights area, as part of a wider ranging peace treaty between the two countries.