Country profilesSyria

Humanitarian profile

Syria is prone to earthquakes and suffered one of the world’s deadliest earthquakes on record in 1138 when an estimated 230,000 people died. Syria was also a major destination for refugees pouring out of Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion, a major humanitarian emergency.

Country snapshot

Syria has been led by the Assad family – father then son – for 40 years. Their authoritarian rule has ensured stability and suppressed Islamist movements at home.

The Baath Party – and the socialism, secularity and Arab identity it stands for – has shaped modern Syria.

So has Syria’s desire to maintain a strong influence over neighbouring Lebanon, and its hostility towards Israel – although it has held direct talks with the Jewish state in the hope of regaining the Golan Heights, whose occupation is a wound to national pride.

Syria is close to Iran, has been accused of supporting insurgents in Iraq, and has been alternately wooed and shunned by the West.

Encouraged by major uprisings in the region, anti-government protests broke out in the southern city of Deraa in March 2011, spreading over time to nearly every city in Syria. 

The government’s use of force in an attempt to crush what became as peaceful protests led to violent clashes between security forces and the demonstrators.

Despite releasing hundreds of political prisoners, the government has failed to meet opposition demands for President Assad to step down.

The international pressure on President Assad to step down intensified after the Arab League and Turkey voted to impose economic sanctions on Syria in November 2011.

In December 2011 the U.N. Human Rights Council reported that at least 5,000 people had been killed since the protests erupted.

Government

Syria is in practice a one-party state whose president faces the formality of a referendum every seven years for re-election. He is the only candidate and there are no term limits.

President Bashar al-Assad took over on the death of his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000. He is also commander-in-chief of the military, which is one of the largest in the region.

The constitution states that his secular Arab Socialist Renaissance (Baath) Party has the leadership role in the state and society.

The constitution otherwise carries little weight - Syria has been under emergency law, which largely overrules it, since 1963.

There is no state religion. Members of President Assad's own minority Muslim sect, the Alawis, have long dominated the Baath Party and hold most top military and security positions.

Assad’s strength owes much to the continued loyalty and effectiveness of the army and secret police.

Parliament is the one-house People's Council or Majlis al-Shaab. Its 250 members are elected every four years.

The Baath-dominated National Progressive Front alliance is the only legally recognised political coalition and dominates the Majlis al-Shaab, with independents making up the remaining seats.

The government, chosen by the president, is headed by the prime minister.

Economy

The state still dominates much of the economy, but Syria has lifted bans on business after four decades of Soviet-style economic policies.

Gulf investment has buoyed the property market, and shops, cafes, restaurants and boutique hotels have created pockets of affluence in Damascus.

However, a lifeline provided by oil wealth will run out soon and deeper reforms are needed to diversify an inefficient economy with a bloated public sector.

GDP growth slowed when the global economic crisis hit oil prices. Modest oil reserves are running out fast.

The ruling party has its roots in socialism and Bashar al-Assad’s reforms since taking power in 2000 have met entrenched resistance from vested interests.

The large military and police are a drain. In earlier years military spending was buoyed by Soviet aid and then by financial support from Gulf Arab states after Syria backed them against Iraq in the first Gulf War.

Social services and basic commodities such as bread are heavily subsidised.

The government has pushed on with some modest economic reforms, including establishing the Damascus Stock Exchange in 2009, but is struggling with high inflation, unemployment, population growth and rising budget deficits.

Oil and gas account for around a fifth or more of government revenues, exports and gross domestic product.

Agriculture, centred on the fertile Euphrates River valley, plays a similarly sized role, but has suffered from recent droughts. Water shortages are expected to be a long-term problem for the fast-growing population.

Syria is somewhat isolated from the global economy. It is not a member of the World Trade Organisation.

History

Syria – a term once used for the whole Near East from Sinai to Turkey – has a long, illustrious history, with evidence of an ancient culture to rival those of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

With the arrival of Islam in the seventh century, Damascus, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, became capital of the Umayyad Caliphate – the largest empire the world had ever seen which spread from Spain to India.

After a few hundred years of Turkish Ottoman rule, then a few hundred days of home rule, it came under French control in 1920. Lebanon, home to many Christians, was carved out as a separate entity.

Independence followed World War Two in 1946 and after instability, coups and military rule, the Baath Party seized control in 1963, with Hafez al-Assad working his way to the top by 1970 in a bloodless coup.

Already, Syria had joined disastrous wars against Israel, losing in 1967 the Golan Heights which Israel later formally annexed.

Ideals of pan-Arabism and the charisma of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser also led it into a short-lived union with Egypt in 1958-61.

Damascus sent troops in 1976 into civil war-torn Lebanon, which it considered its sphere of control. It influenced politics there until it pulled its troops out in 2005 under international pressure, following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

A U.N. investigation implicated Syrian officials in the killing but Damascus denied involvement.

Syria’s opposition has long been suppressed. In 1982 thousands are thought to have died in a crackdown on an uprising in the town of Hama by the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

The former Soviet ally’s ties with the West warmed, for a short while, after it supported the first Gulf War against Iraq and then played a part in Madrid peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

When Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father in 2000, there was a flowering of political debate, but it was brief - the "Damascus spring".

He introduced economic reforms but, in the face of pressure from the establishment, these have proceeded slowly.

Syria’s continued support for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and for the Islamic movement Hamas in Gaza, and especially its opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, soured relations again.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush imposed economic sanctions in 2004 for what he said was Syria’s support for terrorism and failure to stop militants entering Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fled to Syria during the war in Iraq.

In 2007, Israeli jets destroyed what Israel said was a nuclear facility in northern Syria, but Damascus said it was an unused military base.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited in 2008 as part of an apparent new attempt to woo Damascus away from its close ties with Iran.

Progress has petered out on the Golan Heights. Indirect talks with Israel were mediated by Turkey in 2008 but stalled.

In March 2011 anti-government demonstrations broke out in the southern city of Deraa, leading to violent clashes between security forces and the protesters and spreading to nearly every city in Syria.

Legal snapshot

The legal system is based on French and Ottoman civil law. Family courts use Islamic law. There are three levels of courts: courts of first instance, courts of appeals, and the constitutional court, the highest tribunal.

Syria has not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction. It does not recognise the authority of the International Criminal Court.

Corruption is seen as widespread in a country where the state has a strong hand in the economy.

The country ranks poorly in Transparency International’s index measuring the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 180 countries.