الوحدة، الحرية، الاشتراكية (Alwahdat, Alhuritu, Alaishtirakia) (Arab) ("Unity, Liberty, Socialism") | |||||
| Anthem | "حُمَاةَ الدِّيَار (Ħumāt ad-Diyār)" | ||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Damascus | ||||
| Other cities | Aleppo, Beirut, Mosul | ||||
| Language official |
Arabic | ||||
| others | Mandaic (in Mandean communities), Syriac (in Assyria) | ||||
| Religion | Islam, Maronite Christianity, Mandeism | ||||
| Demonym | Syrian | ||||
| Government | Presidential Federal Republic | ||||
| Established | 1 December 1924 | ||||
| Independence | from Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Currency | Syrian pound | ||||
The United Provinces of Syria (Arabic: الولايات المتحدة السورية al-Wilāyāt al-Muttaḥidah as-Sūrīyah), colloquially Syria (Arabic: سوريا Sūriyā), is a country in the Middle East. It is bordered by the Arab Federation to its east and south, by Israel to its southwest, by the Mediterranean Sea to its west, and by Kurdistan to its north. Syria's history begins in the mists of time, and was settled by several people during antiquity, before being conquered by Arabs in the Middle Ages.
Syria is a multicultural, secular and multireligious country, born in the many meetings of the great powers during and after the Great War, when the maps of the whole region were being redrawn; the creation of a strong, secular and independent Syria, once part of the Ottoman Empire, was necessary to counterbalance the hegemony of the Arab Federation in the Middle East and to function as a save haven for the non-Islamic peoples and ethnicities of the region, which would have been threatened by a powerful Arab-dominated state. While Sunni Arabs are the largest ethnoreligious group in the country, there are provinces in Syria which are predominantly inhabited by other groups; meanwhile, small Greek and Mandean communities are spread across Syria.
Arabic is the most widely spoken language of the country and functions as lingua franca employed by the central government. Syria's economy is currently experiencing a boom, fueled by its large oil resources: however, much of the country is still quite rural, and agriculture and sheep herding are still important sectors of its economy. The government has quite a lot of power over the single states, compared to other federal republics. Syria is made up of six states or provinces (Arabic: ولايات wilāyāt, singular ولاية wilayah):
- Alawite State
- State of Aleppo
- Assyria
- State of Damascus
- Jabal Druze
- Lebanon
