SYRIA TOUR: SYRIA FLAG

Friday, September 19, 2008

SYRIA FLAG

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SYRIA

Syria (Arabic: سوريّة ‎ Sūrriya or Sūrya), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية ), is an Arab country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. The modern state of Syria was formerly a French mandate and attained independence in 1946, but can trace its roots to the Eblan civilization in the third millennium BC. Its capital city, Damascus, was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire.

Syria gained independence in April 1946. Officially a Republic, Syria has been under Emergency Law since 1963 and governed by the Baath Party; the head of state since 1970 has been a member of the Assad family. Syria's current president is Bashar al-Assad, son of Hafez al-Assad, who held office from 1970 until his death in 2000.^[2]^[3] With the appointment of Bashar al-Assad in 2000 interest in political reform surged, leading to the so called "Damascus Spring" (July 2000-February 2001). Assad appointed pro-reform candidates to formal and less formal positions, but the 2001 arrest and long-term detention of the two reformist parliamentarians signals slow political reform.^[3] The country has been accused of gross violations of human rights.[1]

Sacred Sites and Religious Places of Syria

Syria's historic religious sites easily rival those of its Middle Eastern neighbours Turkey and Lebanon. As a former part of the Roman Empire, a major center of early Christianity and a stronghold of Islam, Syria contains many important religious and historical sites of interest. Within the borders of modern-day Syria is the oldest continuously occupied city (either Damascus or Aleppo), the "Street Called Straight" walked by St. Paul, the best Crusader castle in the Middle East (Krak des Chevaliers), ancient desert monasteries that still receive pilgrims (such as Seidnaya), and the best preserved Roman theatre (in Bosra). Below is a list of the sacred sites and religious places of Syria we've profiled so far.