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Nations in the News:

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by David Wilson

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Security

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Introduction....................................................................... 6 1 Security Issues............................................ 18 2 Government and Politics......................... 38 3 Economy...................................................... 52 4 Quality of Life.............................................68 5 Society and Culture. .................................86 Series Glossary of Key Terms ............................ 100 Chronology of Key Events ................................. 105 Further Reading & Internet Resources.................... 107 Index................................................................................ 108 Author’s Biography...................................................... 1 1 1 Credits............................................................................. 1 1 2 Contents

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The ancient ruins of Palmyra combine Greco-Roman styles with those of Arabia and Persia. The ruins are of great historical and cultural significance to the people of Syria.

Syria at a Glance

Total Land Area

71,498 square miles

Climate

Mostly desert; hot, dry summers from June to August; mild, rainy winters from December to February along coast; cold weather with snow or sleet periodically in Damascus Petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydropower 54.2 percent of total population (2018; civil war has altered population distribution) Damascus (2.32 million); Aleppo (1.75 million); Homs (1.3 million); Hamah (894,000) Northwestern part of the Middle East, bordering Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan Agricultural land: 75.8 percent; forest: 2.7 percent; other: 21.5 percent

Natural Resources

Land Use

Urban Population

Major Urban Areas

Geography

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Introduction N o single event has had a greater impact on the world during the decade of the 2010s than the ongoing civil war in Syria. Syria’s dictator president, Bashar al-Assad, began the war by vio- lently clamping down on protests against his rule.This war, which began on such a small scale, has subsequently grown larger and larger, sucking in world powers and creating a refugee crisis that has threatened to destabilize an entire continent. Assad remains in power as the head of the nation and the Ba’ath Party, the preeminent political party of Syria. Although other political parties exist in Syria, the Ba’ath Party is considered the official party, its authority enmeshed in the national constitu- tion itself, and there is no political party that expresses outright opposition to Assad or the Ba’ath Party policies.The Ba’ath Party is found throughout the Arab world; in principle, its function is to unite different Arab nations into a cohesive whole, though more often it serves as a political placeholder for one-party and one-man rule. Presidential elections do exist in Syria, but most voters are far too afraid of the consequences of voting against Words to Understand Fundamentalist: A political and/or religious ideology based ex- plicitly on traditional orthodox concepts, with total rejection of mod- ern ideas. Jihad: Atermmeaning“holywar,”mostoftenused inthecontextof Islamic fundamentalism and/or terrorism. Militia: A group of volunteer soldiers who do not fight with a military full time. Refugee: A person who leaves their home nation, by force or by choice, to flee from war or oppression. Sanctions: Political and/or economic punishments levied against another nation as punishment for wrongdoing.

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Bashar al-Assad.

Assad, which is why he has triumphed with the overwhelming majority of the votes in each election despite constitutional term limits for the office of the presidency that, in theory, should have forced him to step down years ago. Assad’s brutality in putting down opposition to his rule led directly to the outbreak of violence. His secret police have the authority to arrest and hold any Syrian citizen suspected of har- boring anti-government beliefs.What’s more, it is believed that he operates many torture chambers throughout Syria, disguised as prisons, in which he extracts confessions and punishes those who disagree with his right to rule the country as a one-man power. Like many dictatorships, Assad and the Ba’ath Party control all aspects of the state, including the media: No criticism of his power is tolerated in any major Syrian newspaper. Today, much of Syria remains in a state of open conflict. The various forces opposed toAssad’s rule fight his military throughout the country. Some of these rebel groups are allied to each other, whereas others are just as great an enemy to each other as they are to the government itself.The influence of foreign powers, including Russia and the United States, has spread and intensified the war,

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resulting in as many as half a million deaths (both soldier and ci- vilian).War crimes on every side have been reported.The fighting has almost totally destroyed Syria’s economy, infrastructure, and standards of living.

In the News Oil and the Syrian Economy Syria, like many Middle Eastern nations, has large reserves of oil beneath its surface. Although this oil is nowhere near as plentiful as it is in Iraq or Saudi Arabia, it is nevertheless the main component of Syria’s economy. Sanctions applied to Syria have drastically limited its ability to both pump and sell oil, further damaging an economy that is barely able to stand on its own and provide work to the Syrian people. The country has few natural resources besides oil itself, although phosphate and manganese mines help to bolster local economies and provide some diversity in Syria’s export markets.

A soldier of the Syrian National Army amid the fighting in the city of Maaloula. Damaged houses can be seen in the background.

Introduction

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Separate from the conflict itself, the war has produced one of the largest refugee movements in human history. Some five million Syrians have fled the fighting, looking for new opportunity wher- ever they can, many relocating to next-door Lebanon or Turkey, whereas others have fled as far away as the European Union (EU). Many more Syrians have expressed the desire to leave, and only a fraction of the refugees have returned to their homes. The stress of the refugees on both poor and wealthy nations has resulted in major changes—political and economic—and altered modern thinking about the duty owed to a people who are at risk of death and persecution. Syria’s conflict has its roots in a 2011 social movement that has become known as the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring took root throughout many Middle Eastern nations and, in some cases, produced long-lasting change, including complete overthrows of corrupt governments. Much of the world sympathized with the hopes of the protestors, as the (mostly young) population voiced their objections to corruption and tyranny. However, in Syria, the protestors of the Arab Spring calling for democracy, freedoms, and jobs were met first with repression and then with armed soldiers. Assad’s refusal to give up his dictatorial power and his inability to view the protests as anything but a threat to his authority resulted in widespread persecution of the Syrian people. A protest movement born from the dissatisfaction of the pop- ulation quickly erupted into a civil war when it became obvi- ous that military force was the only avenue to removing Assad from power and creating true change in Syria. This civil war did not feature two unified sides, however, but rather a patch- work of shifting alliances and political viewpoints. The lack of unity among the Syrian rebels has been a pivotal reason why Assad remains in power to this day, despite the military support offered to rebel groups by international powers like the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. These nations have not committed combat forces, however, meaning that they have only limited ability to stop the progress of Assad’s military. Nations that have been unwilling to commit their military to the fighting have applied economic sanctions; there are so many sanctions levied by the international community against Syria that it is virtually

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Men, women, and children have fled their homes because of the conflict. Millions of refugees have traveled by train, foot, and even boat, seeking safe passage while carrying as many belongings with themas they can.

Introduction

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impossible to sell goods to Syria or for Syrians to purchase goods from overseas. Broadly speaking, control of Syria during the civil war has been divided between Assad’s government, the united Free Syrian Army (FSA),theultra- fundamentalist IslamicState (ISIS),and theKurdish peoples. Each group believes they have the right to authority over the country, or at least over their own stretches of territory.Although various sides have agreed to cease-fires throughout the course of the war, none have proved permanent. Every effort by the international community to end the war peacefully has ended in failure.

Who is fighting whom in Syria?

Support for each side has grown the war in Syria to much larger proportions than the sum of its parts. The Syrian government in Damascus itself has the military support of Russia,who has helped turn the tides of the war, as well as Iran,who views the Shia govern- ment of Assad to be a valuable ally in its long-term goal to extend Shia authority throughout the Middle East.Military groups loyal to or funded by Iran have entered the civil war on the side of Assad, most notably the terrorist organization Hezbollah. The support of Iran for Assad has drawn in many of Iran’s enemies to the conflict, most notably Saudi Arabia, who considers Iran to be the greatest threat to its dominance in the Sunni Islamic world. In fact, the Syrian war can be considered a continuation of the Saudi-Iranian proxy wars playing out through the Middle East in countries like Lebanon and Yemen. Saudi Arabian support has resulted in more Sunni fundamentalist groups gaining power in

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Syria. Though the FSA is nominally a secular alliance of anti-As- sad militaries and militias , it has drawn in (and perhaps even been surpassed by) fundamentalist Sunni organizations like the al-Nusra Front.

Syrian Geography Syria is primarily a desert, like much of the Middle East, sepa- rated from rainfall due to wind currents and the syrian coastal moun- tain range. The western region is habitable and fertile, and much of this region is devoted to cropland and grazing spaces for agriculture. About 30 to 40 inches of rainfall per year in this region makes it a striking contrast from the arid and desert climates of the eastern regions. The Euphrates River is a major geographic feature of Syria (and the broader Middle East itself), fed from the mountains of Turkey and flowing through Syria and Iraq before reaching the Persian Gulf, providing about 80 percent of the total freshwater resources in Syria. Syria is divided into 14 different districts called “governorates.” The highest point in the country is Mount Harmon, which is 9,232 feet (2,814 m) above sea level. A major player in the war, ISIS has not had any international support and, indeed, has been the most frequent target of inter- national attacks. ISIS established its own independent country in the regions of eastern Syria and northern Iraq, vowing to declare a caliphate (an Islamic government) based onultra-traditionalMuslim ideologies, believing themselves to be the leader of global Islamic revolution and authority. Of all the atrocities committed during the Syrian war, ISIS has committed the most grisly of them, earning a reputation for brutality and making the caliphate an international target. ISIS has been almost totally defeated in Syria today, with fewer than 1,000 soldiers likely remaining in the country, but it has shifted its attention to newwar zones in theMiddle East andAfrica, hoping to reestablish its caliphate and attract new volunteers to wage its jihad holy war.

Introduction

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Many countries have come together in the fight against ISIS, leading tomuch death and destruction on all sides. Pictured here, an explosion is seen fromafar after a U.S.-led air strike in the search for ISIS insurgents.

Finally, the Kurds of the northeast of Syria have enjoyed almost total autonomy from the Assad government due to their remote location and the number of other rebel enemies between their territory and Damascus.The Kurds have garnered a great deal of international sympathy and support, yet the politics of the Middle East makes it practically impossible to create the independent Kurdish state that many people believe they deserve. The impact of the war can be expressed in many statistics. Half a million have died; five million have fled the country, and a further eight million are displaced within Syria itself; the war has cost $200 billion and has devalued the Syrian pound by 1,000 percent; over half the population cannot find work; over half the children in the country are not in school; and the average life expectancy has been cut by a full 20 years. Schools, mosques, and hospitals are not safe zones from the fighting and are sometimes targeted by each side in the war to instill fear in the population. Many Syrians who have fled the country have escaped violence but may not have found an easier life—as refugees live in chronic poverty,dependent primarily on foreign aid,many having to reside in tent cities where there is no work or even running water.Those who

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