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The Syrian constitution vests the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party with leadership functions in the state and society and provides broad powers to the president. The president, approved by referendum for a 7-year term, also is Secretary General of the Ba'ath Party and leader of the National Progressive Front. The president has the right to appoint ministers,...
Syria is a middle-income, developing country with an economy based primarily on agriculture and energy. However, Syria's economy faces serious challenges and impediments to growth, including: a large and poorly performing public sector; declining rates of oil production; emerging trade deficit; wide scale corruption; weak financial and capital markets;...
Ramadan in Syria Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and worship, is not only a month of piety and religious duties, but also a social phenomenon which affects the whole set of customs and habits of the Syrian society. Ramadan is a month of vivid social activities. First and foremost, it is a month in which family ties become closer than ever, in a society...
Archaeologists have demonstrated that Syria was the center of one of the most ancient civilizations on earth. Around the excavated city of Ebla in northern Syria, discovered in 1975, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 B.C. The city of Ebla alone during that time had a population estimated...
Cities: Capital--Damascus (pop. 4 million). Other cities--Aleppo (1.5 million), Homs (400,000). Terrain: Narrow coastal plain with a double mountain belt in the west; large, semiarid and desert plateau to the east. Climate: Mostly desert; hot, dry sunny summers (June to August) and mild, rainy winters (December to February) along coast. Location: Middle...
Ethnic Syrians are of Semitic stock. Syria's population is 90% Muslim--74% Sunni, and 16% other Muslim groups, including the Alawi, Shi'a, and Druze--and 10% Christian. There also is a tiny Syrian Jewish community. Arabic is the official, and most widely spoken, language. Arabs, including some 400,000 Palestinian refugees, make up 90% of the population....
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