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Given the rapid fall of the Assad regime due to the recent offensives by the Syrian opposition, I think the Syrian Arab Republic should no longer be viewed as the nominal "official government" of Syria in spite of any international recognition. This would be in step with the developments on the page for Afghanistan circa 15 August 2021 and the resurgence of the Taliban. Ezpler12345 (talk) 23:32, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed that it's probably worth changing the infobox to note the lack of government, and the argument for doing so is steadily increasing hour by hour. On a related topic I think it would be worth splitting off an article on the 1963–2024 Assad-led period of Syrian history (something like Ba'athist Syria)– as a follow-up to the existing Second Syrian Republic. Chessrat(talk, contributions)23:38, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed. I'm mainly using Afghanistan as a reference for this whole situation, since it also saw a rapid change in government in the recent past so I would definitely be in favor of creating a page for the 1963-2024 Ba'athist government following a change in the infobox. Ezpler12345 (talk) 23:39, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Until it is CONFIRMED by a majority of news sources that Assad's government is considered to have 'fallen', we do not simply change the infobox willy nilly. Ba'athist Syria should be kept as a DRAFT until then, and the changes to the infobox MUST be reversed. TheodoresTomfooleries (talk) 03:13, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Agree. We really don't know what is going on right now besides that Damascus has likely fallen, and we especially have no idea what the successor government will be. Let's wait for those things to become more clear before we get ahead of ourselves. DecafPotato (talk) 03:17, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Syrian Arab Republic has fallen, it is pretty obvious. I'd prefer to revert to the old version where it simply said Syria w/o a government section in the infobox. LexigtonMisiENG (talk) 03:18, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Strongly support a no government infobox. Things are extremely fluid right now, and presenting any single government as 'Syria' would be inaccurate. CitrusHemlock03:30, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I oppose this. It is clear that the arab republic government is no longer in power to some sort but it is also unclear who is the continuation government-wise. No flag, and no government infobox seems to be a good option. LexigtonMisiENG (talk) 03:34, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
While it seems likely at this point that a government with that flag will rule Syria, it should not be represented until that government clearly exists and has legitimacy. Until then, there is no clearly legitimate government with a flag in Syria, and thus none should be shown. Bismarx (talk) 03:41, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If that happens, how should it be done? Should they be replaced with placeholders? Or maybe adding an explanation on why there is no flag, or government where they would be? Or both? And how about the coat of arms? Zabezt (talk) 04:25, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Assad government has lost Damascus per media sources, so it would be inaccurate to display them as the de jure government of Syria for right now. I am in favor of a no-flag, no-official name solution as of right now. Ezpler12345 (talk) 03:35, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I reverted one edit (which was a single user's unilateral revert to the SAR-recognizing infobox) and otherwise only changed the flags or the official names. Also, I've been keeping an eye on the discussion but haven't been engaging to see if a consensus can form. Ezpler12345 (talk) 03:51, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In retrospect these past 2 comments don't make sense now that I realize they were talking to TheTechnician instead of me. Whoops. (I'm not a very frequent Wiki user, so I apologize for the misunderstanding). Ezpler12345 (talk) 03:53, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I did revert one edit about half an hour ago right after the article got EP, but that should be the only one. Sorry, this is all kind of a cluster right now. 😅 And I guess it's going to be a cluster working on this now. TheTechnician27(Talk page)03:58, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I was at first in favor of using both the SAR and Syrian opposition flag (which was my initial edit) until the edits became extremely volatile. I think that given how uncertain the situation is overall, there should not be any recognition of one de jure Syrian government until everything cools down. Ezpler12345 (talk) 03:48, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Well, the page clearly displays the Syrian Arab Republic as the de jure government of Syria so something clearly went wrong. If this was an accident it's no big deal but almost every source has confirmed the fall of the SAR. Ezpler12345 (talk) 03:55, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I completely agree with the fall of the SAR at this point; it's noted in multiple very reliable sources. If I reverted that after that initial one about half an hour ago (before e.g. the NYT and Reuters started covering it), I didn't mean to. TheTechnician27(Talk page)03:56, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If so, I would like to request an edit from a permitted user to change the page in recognition of Syria's currently unresolved status when it comes to their de jure government (no flag, no CoA). Ezpler12345 (talk) 03:58, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Apparently the prime minister is officially still in charge of the syrian government and is preparing for a peaceful transfer. So the syrian arab republic essentially officially exists and is acknowledged by the opposition until the transition happens. So the assumption it has fallen may be premature idk how it works with wiki policy though. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-83242883.248.43.83 (talk) 04:49, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
While remnants of the state known as the Syrian Arab Republic still exist, the government as a whole seems to have collapsed. As the opposition groups (SIG, HTS) do not acknowledge the SAR, and given that they control the vast majority of Syria it would be inaccurate to claim that the SAR is an extant state. Ezpler12345 (talk) 04:56, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Correction: while the military apparatus supporting the state seems to have collapsed, elements of the government seem to still have some remaining influence given the PM's statement. Ezpler12345 (talk) 04:58, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
We should follow how the Afghanistan article changed in 2021. Syrian Military Command has confirmed the surrend to the Free Syrian Transitional government. We should change with Reliable sources.
Personally I am in favor of displaying either the SAR and opposition flag or opposition and Salvation Government flag as joint flags, but I feel obliged to follow the consensus that has been reached over the past few hours. Ezpler12345 (talk) 05:48, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My main concern is how easy misinfo about flags can spread out of wikipedia due to people not knowing the context: This is a topic that we kinda need to specify quickly - the notion syria no longer has a flag can easily become "fact" due to it - I think it's best to display the flags of the factions. ⛿WeaponizingArchitecture | yell at me05:57, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps just linking the Flag of Syria page would work as a stopgap, if we really should display something? It'd show that they have a flag while preserving the complicated status. 96dot (talk) 05:59, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Source? the prime minister has conceeded to a caretaker and agreed to transition power, I see no way you can argue that the SAR is still in charge! WikiNerd202224 (talk) 22:30, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The new Syrian government's ministry of public media (essentially a ministry-wide spokesperson) has an official twitter account that is recently up and running again. In one tweet they refer to the state as the Syrian Arab Republic, to my surprise. It seems even they consider the name of the state to not have changed. I will provide a link to that tweet, in the original Arabic. I read Arabic, and I can confirm the tweet calls the Syrian state seemingly by its official name, the SAR.
Now the question is, how do we differentiate between the SAR post Assad and SAR during Assad?
I suggest we add the Green White Black flag as the Syrian Parliament, Embassies, Government buildings have been seen flying them. OR, we can follow the Afghanistan model and have both flags side by side for now GucciNuzayer (talk) 21:17, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
in the Syrian wikipedia page the coat of arms clearly shows in the eagle chest the revolutionary syrian flag, as so we can add the revolutionary flag because is the flag that is currently used, if syrian transitional government changes the flag then we can replace it with the current they are using. I wanted to ask if we add syrian flag we add or *(tap picture to see difference) Asd3131 (talk) 17:20, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If the Syrian Arab Republic falls completely, what will we do with this article? (More specifically, the flag and coat of arms at the top of the infobox) Zabezt (talk) 03:58, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
See the "Syrian Arab Republic" thread for discussion on this. The current consensus among most editors is to have no flag, coat of arms or official name until the situation has settled down. Ezpler12345 (talk) 04:02, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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Temporarily [since no flag really applies currently], we should link to Flag of Syria until a more definitive agreement is reached. This should be similar to the Austro-Hungarian page, with a label just saying something like "(see: Flag of Syria)" above the map part of the infobox. 96dot (talk) 05:19, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Probably the best solution we have right now for the flag dillema. While there is no official government, the factions in the civil war serve as temporary caretakers now that the Assad regime has been deposed. The consensus on "no flags" is worrisome as people can spread misinformation about flags if theyre on Wikipedia, so the idea that syria has no flag at all now can easily be spread. ⛿WeaponizingArchitecture | yell at me05:46, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep – I'm personally unopposed to keeping multiple flags with your caption of 'Flags of factions in control of Syria'. While it fails to capture the SAR flag of the holdouts in Latakia and Tartus in the northwest, that doesn't seem like it's going to hold for long, and we could just as easily add the SAR flag back into that list of factions for a total of four flags until it collapses (or if it doesn't). It technically fails to capture ISIS too which has small pockets of control in the south–southeast, but that's really a nitpick due to how insignificant they currently are, and those are liable to quickly disappear as the power vacuum closes. Overall, I think this is essentially the best, most informative way we can present what's currently happening. I wouldn't have a problem with no flag either because it is still a massive cluster, but I don't object to this either. TheTechnician27(Talk page)05:57, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment – Mass-pinging Cowboygilbert, GhostOfDanGurney, Bismarx, Freedoxm, ElijahPepe, Skitash, Chaotic Enby, Ezpler12345, Firecat93, and CitrusHemlock as the most involved editors I can find/recall from the past couple hours-ish so we can hopefully reach a final consensus on this. I think what WeaponizingArchitecture has presented is literally the best possible scenario for keeping the flags right now (namely that e.g. Firecat93 has tried and failed to put forth a valid source for a single flag of the interim government), so if it fails, I think the prospect of having any flag in the infobox is dead and buried until this situation develops further. TheTechnician27(Talk page)06:07, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Although I agree with Weapon's point in theory, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria does not claim to represent the entirety of Syria and therefore its flag (the existence of which I am uncertain of) should not be utilized as a representative of the "flag of Syria". In my opinion, only the flags claiming to represent the entirety of Syria (3-star + Salvation govt. flag) should be utilized if we are to put back the flags. Ezpler12345 (talk) 06:20, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - I believe it is still best to keep the three factions' flags on the article, since there is a revolution going on, and there is currently no official flag of syria.
That's fine, but Syria is a sovereign country. Flags of semi-autonomous groups should not be used. Should the flag of ISIS be included, as it controls small areas of Syrian territory? I don't think so.
After the fall of the Assad regime, the old flag of the Syrian Republic should be used. It is the flag that the unified opposition fought under, and it is the flag that is being carried by thousands of people on the street celebrating in Aleppo, Latakia, Damascus, etc. Firecat93 (talk) 06:11, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree, as the Assad regime has collapsed, and i'm also not sure if Syria is a republic at this point. Because of this other reason, I am not changing opinion. 🗽Freedoxm🗽 (talk) 06:15, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Flag of Syrian Republic is the three starred flag. After the Baathist Revolution, the Baathist Party flag of Syria was used. Now that the Baathist Regime has fallen, the flag on the article should be reverted to the original Flag of the Syrian Republic. Thank you for considering my perspective. Firecat93 (talk) 06:15, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure I follow the logic that if a regime falls, we simply fall back on the previous flag by default. To take this to an absurd, if the US today suddenly collapsed, would we revert back to the Grand Union Flag? I understand the connection between the revolution and the flag, but I just don't think amidst this chaos that there's a good case for a single flag (de jure or de facto) right now. TheTechnician27(Talk page)06:23, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I dont think that we should use any flag atm because no official flag yet. The war is still going on and at the time I am writing this, the opposition haven't yet formally established their state. So no flags per WP:CRYSTALBALLAbo Yemen✉06:13, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Flag of Syrian Republic is the three starred flag. After the Baathist Revolution, the Baathist Party flag of Syria was used. Now that the Baathist Regime has fallen, the flag on the article should be reverted to the original Flag of the Syrian Republic. Thank you for considering my perspective. Firecat93 (talk) 06:16, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Houthis control a significant part of Yemen, but their flag is not featured atop the Yemen Wikipedia page. Hezbollah basically has full autonomy over Southern Lebanon, but their flag is not used atop the Lebanon Wikipedia page. There are many different Libyan factional groups, but only the Libyan flag is featured atop the Libya Wikipedia page. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, but the flag on the Palestine Wikipedia page is not the Hamas flag or the Fatah flag. I believe that the same logic should apply here. Syria should be respected as a sovereign country. The flag of Syrian Republic is the three starred flag. It was only after the Baathist Revolution that the Baathist Party flag of Syria was used. Now that the Baathist Regime has fallen, in my view, the flag on the article should be reverted to the original flag of the Syrian Republic, which was also the unofficial flag of the Syrian Revolution and unified opposition groups. Thank you for considering my perspective.
Please see the @Ezpler12345's very insightful comment below:
"Although I agree with Weapon's point in theory, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria does not claim to represent the entirety of Syria and therefore its flag (the existence of which I am uncertain of) should not be utilized as a representative of the "flag of Syria". In my opinion, only the flags claiming to represent the entirety of Syria (3-star + Salvation govt. flag) should be utilized if we are to put back the flags."
Alrighty. Besides, stop pinging me, I'm already locked in on this. I'd really appreciate it if you stop pinging me and move on with your day. 🗽Freedoxm🗽 (talk) 06:26, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This is the second time I have been pinged in this thread and this message doesn’t pertain to me. Please don’t ping me again unless it’s something specific towards me. Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥06:27, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - Reminder that there is still Assad-controlled regions in Lakatia and Tartus, which Assad could be in right now. I think that we should add the rebel flags and the current Assad-ruled Syria flag. So 4 flags in total. Bigfatman8766 (talk) 07:01, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The green flag is the leading flag, it is said Assad has fallen and many Syrians are seen holding the Green flag, I'd say it is best to have it as the Green flag as of now, since it is clear which flag is being raised and which isn't. 2603:7080:2300:332:DDB9:CA4D:174C:22FD (talk) 10:53, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - Why the rush? Isn't it a bit too soon? Lets just wait and see what happens, then update the article accordingly. There isn't any need to update the article in real time whilst things are still developing. IJA (talk) 10:57, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Furthermore, the change should be based on some source saying flag x is or isn't the flag of Syria. None have been provided in this discussion. CMD (talk) 11:01, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - For now the best course of action is to not use any flag in the infobox, at that point we might as well add government information for the various claimants. Until countries begin to recognize one of the claimants as either the de facto or de jure successor, no flag should be added.CitrusHemlock15:14, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - I don't know when the discussion is going to end but it seems like most of the people who have voted want to put up the 3 flags - if no one is opposed to it then I'll go ahead and do so - The new interim government is expected to be formed tomorrow, so it should be a good temporary solution as opposed to having no symbols listed, which could lead to confusion and more edit warring. ⛿WeaponizingArchitecture | yell at me18:15, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am opposed to this. Once the government is formed, we should use the flag that they use (which is going to be the 3 star flag probably) and that one only Abo Yemen✉18:45, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
People are going to keep re-adding the flags unless its made clear what is being used. We don't know when the new government will be formed - Considering wikipedia is often consulted first for flags, it's imperative we have something to prevent misinformation. ⛿WeaponizingArchitecture | yell at me21:50, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I haven't seen anyone adding the flags after we have added the notes and and reverted that one guy. Plus since when were we the ones who chose the flags for the countries? Us adding a flag when it is not yet official is not what we're supposed to do. People can wait with us too Abo Yemen✉06:43, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They just declared a transitional government and yet no flag has been adopted yet. I'm going to go ahead and re-add the 3 main flags back because the flag seems like the lowest of the new government's priorities right now. We can't keep the section empty forever. ⛿WeaponizingArchitecture | yell at me00:30, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@WeaponizingArchitecture: Your version was quickly changed to 1 free flag. So I reverted to the stable version without flags. We'd better reach some kind of consensus and note it on top of the talk page or these endless reverting back and forth would go on forever. — 魔琴 (Zauber Violino) [ talkcontribs ] 02:28, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There is a very reasonable chance a new government emerges and begins to sort out issues such as representation (which will be a priority, for foreign relations if nothing else) before an RfC is finished. CMD (talk) 03:55, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Support the revolutionary flag with adding a note "de facto flag" for now.
Oppose no flag this is asinine, we had the Ba'athist flag alone in the infobox when there was a civil war, now the Syrian transitional government controls most of the territory but we're not putting their flag in the infobox because: ?????????.
Support single revolutionary flag - There presently is no government of Syria, presumably this won't last long however, but until then, I would support changing the flag to the revolutionary flag, especially given it's now being used in a quasi-official capacity, as above. There will be no RS that the flag has been officially made the flag of the state of Syria, because as of now there are no officials at all except the Prime Minister to make that hyper-specific announcement or determination, it already being so obvious to all that it is not needed to be announced, and when there is more pressing matters to attend to, like continuity of the state and preservation of its institutions. There are already enough sources that the flag is being used by the government in a representative fashion of the entire state, not just the resistance, even if there is no legal document to attest to this. Factions like AANES (Rojava) or ISIS have made no claim on "The state of Syria", Rojava only claiming Kurdistan and ISIS having an undefined "Islamic State", basically as much territory as they can capture, they've literally declared a "Worldwide Caliphate", not just Syria. Sources supporting the remnants of the government using it to represent the (new) state, from the Flag of Syria article:
Subsequently the "Independence flag" began to be flown within the country[1][2][3] and at Syrian embassies abroad.[4][5][6]
I'm with Abo on this one. WeaponizingArchitecture provided I think the best alternative to no flag currently feasible, and it's clear that even that's contentious. The article is extended-protected, and putting up a flag still turns into a game of "Duck Season, Rabbit Season". That implies to me that neither side is ignorant of Wikipedia norms or of the facts; it's just an inherently murky situation. It's good, common practice that when even a bunch of experienced editors can't agree on what something should be (not just that "mine is better", but that "yours is wrong"), the answer until it becomes clearer is "nothing". I would further argue that the PM and the SAA ceding control to the rebel groups is a cause for them to be considered "the" Syrian government, but until they announce an official flag, the flag really technically is "nothing". TheTechnician27(Talk page)14:15, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The flag is already being displayed in embassies and cities in Syria and is generally used by the current official government, to which power has already been officially transferred. It is only a matter of time before it is written into the constitution. Alter73 (talk) 14:23, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am of the view that we should use this flag as it is clear that it is being used. If for any reason they use a different flag, then we change it. But for now, it is clear that the intention is to use this flag as seen in the offices post-transfer of power. EmpAhmadK (talk) 14:32, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is built on reliable sources, not on what is "clear that is being used". We're not original reporting. Given current reliable reporting, the absolute extent of what we can surmise that it's probably going to be the rebel flag, but we're also not a crystal ball. What we can say concretely is that the opposition flags are being used in widespread celebration in Damascus. When we can say concretely that the rebel flag is currently the flag of Syria is either when the rebel leadership (which the SAA command and the PM are officially handing control off to, thus making them the official government) announce an official flag or when they write it into an official, binding document like a constitution. TheTechnician27(Talk page)14:45, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
flags are official if they are described in a constitution of some sort and not by flying flags that may not necessarily be used by all factions Abo Yemen✉14:38, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 8 December 2024 (5)
It hasn't. The provisional government has not adopted a new flag, and the rebel groups use numerous different flags to represent themselves. The infobox doesn't use any flags or symbols as of yet because of this. TheodoresTomfooleries (talk) 16:26, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
We need official confirmation from the provisional government, which hasn't yet officially adopted any flag, let alone the Syrian opposition one. Ilhamnobi (talk) 19:15, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
NO. The new government hasn't made any official confirmation of a new flag or anything + the AANES controls the east part of the country and they have their own flag, we must wait. Regioncalifornia (talk) 19:44, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Because there is no single rebel group controlling a majority of Syria. Syria is split in 5 ways between Kurds/Americans, Israelis, the FSA, the HTS and the rump remnants of the Assad government. 145.40.150.167 (talk) 20:11, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This flag should probably be put up there in due time, but probably not immediately. This is a very fluid situation. However the previous flag which was used under Assad should absolutely not be used anymore. I think continued observation of this situation is warranted and further discussion can take place after new developments. --NevadaExpert (talk) 20:27, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
To what extent can we consider that there is a new government proclaimed and that a new flag should be used if in ambassies like the one in Madrid, the Baaz Syrian flag is being taken down and the green white and black flag being raised? Because if we consider that official then maybe we should consider changing it. Below is my source
The Union Jack has no "official" status as the Flag of the United Kingdom, it's status as the national flag is entirely de facto insisting that a flag must be officially proclaimed in order to be shown on it's Wikipedia page would mean that the Union Jack would have to be removed from the UK's page. Additionally there are other historical examples of national flags existing in a de facto capacity only, such as the pre-1965 Canadian Red Ensign. Not having the de facto national flag on this page contravenes established Wikipedia precedent. 2204happy (talk) 20:24, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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I think the page of Syria should have the flag of the Syrian opposition which is in order from top to bottom: green, white and black horizontal tricolor with three five pointed red stars in the middle white stripe that go horizontally. NorthernRepublic3 (talk) 10:14, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The new government is literally raising the Free Syrian flag over its embassies around the world you've got assadists and rojavaboos here trying to bs everyone with their hot takes on "the situation not being over".
Admins, even "senior admins", cannot override community consensus. That is neither an admin's job, nor a power they have. However, asking an experienced editor for guidance on starting a community discussion about the flag is very much a possibility (but again, the decision is community consensus, not a senior editor's authority). I would be happy to set that up, and help centralize the many talk page questions about the flag by opening a request for comment if needed. Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 20:56, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If the "community consensus" is insane and not backed in what we can see with our own two eyes, then yes, admins should get involved and fix it. Only the deranged could argue that we should either have no flag or the old flag when the rebels are in power. Scuba21:26, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
No, if most people do not agree with your opinion, it doesn't mean that you can declare them "insane" and "deranged". You can argue for your (totally reasonable) position without insulting others Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 22:05, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ba'athist Syria is done, keeping their flag up and denying the opposition's use of their flag is deranged behavior. Scuba23:05, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It has nothing to do with "Rojavaboos" - It's because the government doesn't have an official flag yet, and flags are unfortunately a massive source of misinformation to spread here on Wikipedia. ⛿WeaponizingArchitecture | yell at me00:28, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@WeaponizingArchitecture Agreed. Flag needs to be changed back, or the de jure syrian flag needs to be put under the de facto one until it is either specifically confirmed by the new government that a flag change has taken place, or it becomes internationally recognized as the new flag, which as of yet it is not - it is just the rebels flag as of this point. 73.68.171.223 (talk) 02:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's more that Wikipedia editors tend to a little bit autistic in that they like to place a lot of emphasis on officialdom, despite the fact that there are many historical examples of commonly accepted national flags only existing in a de facto capacity. A perfect example is the Union Jack, which has no official status as the National Flag of the United Kingdom. 2204happy (talk) 20:27, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, just to clarify, being too attached to the "official" status of things isn't the same as autism, and using "autistic" as a pejorative that way isn't the most respectful. Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 20:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As an autistic editor, I'll state that following WP:RS for determining what the flag of Syria is doesn't mean it's autism. There is no harm in being patient while we wait for good reliable evidence that it is indeed the de facto flag now. Abzeronow (talk) 21:20, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
CMD, respectfully, what you are asking for is often times impossible, and making an educated guess based on observations is sometimes the only way to know what a country's flag looks like. This happened with Mauritania when they announced they were adding red stripes to the flag a while back. It would be years before any sort of government website finally showed us what the new flag was actually supposed to look like, and it changed quite a bit. During that span of time, all we could do was explore the internet looking for any photos or videos we could find of things like the flag being raised from government flagpoles, being displayed in Parliament, being displayed in diplomatic meetings, etc. That's a better option than displaying nothing while waiting for something that may never exist. Vanilla Wizard 💙14:20, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's not remotely impossible, as your example says. If Mauritania announced they were adding red stripes to the flag, there you go. That's it! Very simple. CMD (talk) 14:26, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You misunderstood. What Mauritania didn't announce for many years was that this involved a complete overhaul of the design. How large are the stripes? What shade of red do we use? These were unanswered questions accompanied by the even larger mystery of why we suddenly started seeing evidence of a new flag that uses completely different colors and different shapes. Eventually we could finally confirm that the weird new flag is in fact the official design. But for several years, all we could rely on was various photos we actively searched for. Vanilla Wizard 💙15:00, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The point seems to have been lost in the fine details: actively searching for photographs and videos of flags is very often the only way to confirm what the flag is. You say our eyes are not a primary source and what we need is an official declaration or a piece of legislation to tell us what the flag is, but it is not reasonable to assume that such information will ever be communicated. In those situations, we look to what flags are actually flying from the flagpoles and make an educated decision. We do use our eyes. As many others have mentioned, even the famous Union Jack is nowhere to be found in law, but we know it's the flag because it's been in use for centuries. There's no reason for the Syrian opposition groups to announce their flag is the flag, they've all been using it the entire time. Maybe we will get a declaration, but why should we expect it? Vanilla Wizard 💙16:16, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Not to get too side tracked from the Syria discussion, but these sources describe how the Union Jack is not the subject of any laws in England, Scotland, and Wales, while there are some guidelines on how to display it in Northern Ireland. I don't believe the text of any law makes it the de jure flag. Vanilla Wizard 💙17:40, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That's not an OTHERSTUFFEXISTS argument, I haven't even !voted for a side yet. I was just responding to a specific argument I took issue with and explaining that photographs and videos are often times the best and only sources you're going to get to inform decisions on what image file to display in the infobox. Vanilla Wizard 💙18:32, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, this is simply wrong. It is 100% guaranteed that the official status of a flag will be communicated. It is through such communications that institutions like the United Nations obtain their information. The UK flag statement is a myth, as Abo Yemen mentions. We also have reams of sources saying it is the flag of the UK. CMD (talk) 17:39, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
LibertarianLibrarian85, please tone down the accusations of bad faith, and Scu_ba, please tone down the insulting language. I'm as sympathetic to the reasons for displaying a flag as anyone else (though I actually see both sides to this argument and am not prepared to cast a !vote yet), and like some of the above users, I too am autistic and flags happen to be one of my most noticeable autistic fixations, so I have to admit that seeing a country infobox with no flag pains me (I'd at least like a link to the Flag of Syria page). But the arguments against displaying one at this time are coming from a place of good faith. Even though I lean more in favor of displaying the green-white-black flag (its use in the coat of arms, which we do seem to be comfortable displaying, is a giveaway that the new flag is probably not going to be some other design), arguments like the ones you two have made here only push people away from your side. Vanilla Wizard 💙11:51, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 9 December 2024 (5)
This is an arbitrary rule. There is no requirement on Wikipedia for things to be "official" before we use them. They just have to be reliably sourced. Michail (blah) 02:46, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 10 December 2024
The flag is already in use everywhere, including by the new authorities and by embassies worldwide.
The official website of the Prime Minister has already changed the Coat of Arms As you can see here
The Facebook People's Assembly page is using the revolutionary flag. The National Football team has changed its logo: you can check it out here. Please stop blocking these changes which fully reflect reality. Cscescu (talk) 11:54, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have provided three different sources for the changes. This is arbitrary and contravenes the spirit of Wikipedia's guidelines. Cscescu (talk) 12:59, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That's not how it works. There is no power vacuum, there is direct continuity between the structures of the Assadist regime and the transitional government. The state exists, it has embassies and international representation, its websites and public services are workin, and a transition ceremony took place between the old and new PMs. Your arguments have no legal nor political bases. Cscescu (talk) 14:11, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There is no power vacuum see the Succeeded by section of the Ba'athist Syria infobox The state exists Where is the constitution Your arguments have no legal nor political bases neither does yours It doesn't have to have whatever that means. Here on Wikipedia, we have our own policies and guidelines that we adhere to. Abo Yemen✉14:15, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
why is the UK the norm here? The previous state had a clear law on the flag. Plus there is no syrian state atm. Yall should be worrying about the state's official name more than the flag Abo Yemen✉05:59, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You keep saying there's no Syrian state, but that's not a correct statement. Just because a country is in the midst of a regime change does not mean its statehood disappears.
National flags do not have to be adopted by law or in a constitution. Historically, those official acts have often been used to confirm flag changes that have already happened. Algeria is a good example: its flag was raised in 1962 but wasn't actually confirmed in law until 1963. It would be very incorrect to say Algeria did not have a national flag during that first year, even though there was no official act that said it was so. AquaVacation (talk) 16:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The consensus so far 10 for A, 16 for B, 1 for C 0 for D. @Abo Yemen consensus is clear, please respect the consensus reached in discussion and allow the new flag to be added. Further modifications must be discussed prior to their inactment, if consensus changes, we will discuss it here. I am going to go ahead and add the flag, as well as update the talk page. WikiNerd202224 (talk) 20:06, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This has been previously discussed (post right above this one). Looks like they're waiting for the flag to be officially designated by constitutional law or any other sort of decree before putting it in the article. Can I has Cheezburger? (talk) 17:39, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As of 10 September, the "Independnece Flag" appears to be being used as the de facto flag of Syria. In addition to its use abroad by numerous Syrian embassies, the Syrian parliament (which has switched sides) is using it within thier debating chamber. It was flown during the swearing in ceremony of the transitional government (with a religious flag also being present in the room) and the Syrian Football Association have changed their symbols to include it. The caption below the flag could read "de facto flag" with its status explained in the main Flag of Syria article. Dn9ahx (talk) 18:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As ever with Wikipedia I think there's no easy answer. There probably won't be a televised press conference to reveal the flag. There probably won't be an official declaration from someone in a suit outside the UN. Yet here we are with what appears to be cumulative evidence to prove, more or less, that a new flag is in use. I think we are in the same area as with the Afghanistan flag, where there are two flags in place without too much disagreement. doktorbwordsdeeds22:16, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Definitely agreed. I would say at this point we have fairly unambiguous evidence from news articles, photos and official websites that the Independence flag is being used as the national flag by the new Syrian government. And maybe more crucially, I don't think we have any evidence to support the assertion in the infobox that "Syria does not have an official flag". That's a very strong statement and I suspect we'd struggle to find a source that backs it up. AquaVacation (talk) 23:46, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Instead of trying to find sources to prove the inexistance of a state (p.s. you wont find anything), go find sources that prove that the state is established Abo Yemen✉16:59, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
A state does not stop being a state just because its government falls. The government and the state are two different things. Syria has borders, a population, a transitional government, a prime minister, a currency, and international relations. AquaVacation (talk) 22:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 10 December 2024 (4)
Please stop giving wrong information to other people. You don't need a constitution to use a flag. Many countries have no constitution either, for example Taliban led Afghanistan Islamic Emirate has no parliament, no constitution, and the flags/coa is used on the infobox. So, again stop giving wrong information to people. Beshogur (talk) 09:08, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Abo Yemen: yes it's your talkpage, you do whatever you want but this was directed to you. You gave this example 100 times here. It's basically untrue. Constitution is not a criteria for this. Beshogur (talk) 09:16, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Top: white Tawhid flag (took from Afghanistan; need a 2:3 version) Bottom: Syrian revolutionary flag
If there is consensus on placing the revolutionary flag on the infobox as a de facto then I am okay with it. Its not like i am the one who is controlling this page. But if we are going to rush it and place it in the infobox now cus the new govt is using it then we will have to use the Tawhid flag on the infobox too as it was used by the govt next to the revolutionary flag as seen on pics from the new prime minister here and here and on Jolani's cnn interviewAbo Yemen✉09:31, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't say anything like controlling article or like that but the example you give (maybe others did too idk) is simply wrong. The reason I opened on your talk page is that, don't get me wrong. Also it's even possible a country having two flags, it'll be not so good example but Transnistria. But the rebel flag seems to be used de facto as evindences were presented by many users, and I think therefore should be used here too despite having nothing official. Beshogur (talk) 09:39, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
We don't even know when the constitution will be drafted etc. Not trying to convince you but tried to say the official thing is wrong if it's de facto used by the ruling authority (HTS for now). If there is a prime minister, and he uses that flag, we should use it on the infobox too. That's my opinion. See Taliban and Afghanistan example. Beshogur (talk) 09:47, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
We don't even know when the constitution will be drafted etc and we are not a crystal ball so we shouldn't be the ones determining flags here the ruling authority (HTS for now) The HTS is not the only faction here, idk if they merged with the other opposition groups but they definitely are not the only ones here If there is a prime minister, and he uses that flag, we should use it on the infobox too. Sure but the thing is, who is the one in power? The previous constitution says that the President is the one who actually rules but now that that constitution is no longer is use then who is the one officially in power? I mean yes we can assume it is the PM but is that officially the case? Abo Yemen✉09:56, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nah tried to explain constitution is not a requirement for this. Also Jolani seems to be the kingmaker, the learer of Syria whoever he likes to appoint. Anyways. Beshogur (talk) 10:11, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
We don't need a constitution, we could take say the Prime Minister saying "We've discussed it and this is the flag of Syria". CMD (talk) 13:32, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah sure just don't use "took from Afghanistan" as it is irrelevant to Afghanistan and make them top and bottom instead of left and right to make space for the coat of arms Abo Yemen✉10:19, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I noticed that FIFA has officially adopted the green-white-black flag as the flag of Syria (source). This could be helpful in a broader discussion. –yeagvr ·✉00:29, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Syria article in most other languages used the new flag and coat of arms. Heck, even the Simple English Wiki uses the new flag. Zabezt (talk) 16:55, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Noting that the RfC has not yet reached a consensus, but the requester edited the RfC to state that it had them made this request, which is obviously inappropriate, especially given they were WP:INVOLVED based on their participation in said discussion. Hey man im josh (talk) 21:31, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Abo Yemen @Hey man im josh you two are the only one opposing the flag here. Saying that it's not reaching any consensus is just disingenuous when everybody are requesting the edit.
If you guys want to be productive, give us a vote and lets finish this quickly
@Afif Brika1: Regardless of your inaccurate assessment of the situation (there are 10+ people who voted for no flag so far), we wait 7 days for the RfC to conclude, at which point an uninvolved third party will close the discussion. Hey man im josh (talk) 05:34, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Who said I am opposed to a flag? Did you not read my vote on the RFC? Plus There is clearly no consensus on the RFC till now and I recommend that you go and learn what the word consensus means Abo Yemen✉05:50, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think the flag has already been used enough to be added: the HTS-led transition government has even started to drop their "alternative" Tawhid flag at some press conferences and AANES has also flown it next to their administration flag. Syrian social media users are also celebrating the new flag being used by FIFA, and other Wikipedia editions (see the Arabic one) already use it too. I think there is a very clear consensus that that flag is going to be Syria's flag from now on, in the worst case scenario they'll have to standardise the flag's stars. Tidjani Saleh (talk) 19:51, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, the previous flag with the shahada has not been in use for quite a while. Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani in the interview he gave to cnn you can see him sitting next to the rebel flag and a plain white flag with a shahada (perhaps a variant of this one?). Further, Mohammed al-Bashir, the new syrian PM was photographed next to those same two flags here, and again here which to me seems like they are already being used in an official fashion by government officials and being flown over governmnet buildings. I believe we should change it now. Brother Jerome (talk) 20:07, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The flag was not used yesterday in an interview with Al Jazeera (link), and the reaction I've seen in Arabic-speaking Syrian social media posts was that of the government "listening to the people's demands", since one of the repeated slogans now is that of a non-sectarian Syria. I would say they used it mainly as a symbolic partisan symbol (since all of the cabinet is HTS-aligned) but basically anywhere else we see the green flag. Tidjani Saleh (talk) 21:28, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Syria proper shown in dark green; Syria's territorial claims over most of Turkey's Hatay Province and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights shown in light greenShow globe
Turkey newspaper say it was official flag of Syrian and it in government building so it official flag
Historical Significance: The flag featuring three red stars has been widely associated with the Syrian opposition and the revolution. It symbolizes resistance against the current regime and is used in anti-government demonstrations and events.
Cultural Relevance: The three red stars represent important aspects of Syria’s identity—originally symbolizing regions or revolutionary movements. This design has become an emblem for opposition groups and their supporters globally.
Current Usage: The flag is prominently used by Syrian opposition groups, diaspora communities, and humanitarian efforts, distinguishing it from the official government flag.
Credible References: Reliable sources, such as reports from reputable news organizations, academic studies, or international publications, document the flag’s use and significance. Including references like the one provided from Türkiye Today would strengthen the request.
I support this decision: it’s well-sourced (with the opposition flag being common knowledge), informative, much more appealing, and much less humiliating to the Syrian people to not have their country’s Wikipedia article have a flag. Maybe an additional flag for the SSG should be added (if sources back it up as another de facto flag), but this is good for now. LordOfWalruses (talk) 04:13, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I find it silly that the coat of arms which is in de facto use according to the article has the new Syrian flag clearly in the middle of it aside from the use of the new Syrian flag by every official media outlet that could exist internally and externally, even the Kurds started raising the flag as well. Aside from the transitional government using this flag as well. It's just completely ridiculous. The official name "Syrian Arab Republic" got added - which we can see obviously on the coat of arms - but the flag which we can also see obviously on the coat of arms isn't? The one symbol that means so much to the Syrians isn't. There seems to be some sort of intentional thing going on here. Wikipedia further proving it's not a reliable source. 2600:1700:6E1:7670:21F2:7613:FCA3:DC93 (talk) 02:21, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The de facto flag of syria is the green flag because it was raised in a lot of world embassys (saudi arabia,russia,tunisia,UAE) and more countrys are gonna do the same
78.172.212.73 (talk) 9:29, 13 December 2024 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.215.194.128 (talk)
why isn't there a flag in syria page (Not the flag page)
^Humat ad-Diyar (Arabic: حُمَاةَ الدِّيَارِ, romanized: Ḥumāt ad-Diyār, lit. 'Guardians of the Homeland') was the national anthem of Ba'athist Syria (1963–2024) and the preceding First and Second Syrian Republic. Syria has been governed by a transitional government since the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, with no announcement thus far if this song will continue to be used as the national anthem. The Syrian opposition previously used a version with modified lyrics, calling for the overthrow of Assad.
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 15 December 2024
I don't think that there is sufficient evidence to describe the white flag as being "co-official". The independence flag is being used at Syrian embassies abroad, at government buildings, by sports teams and by the general public. The only place that the white Islamic flag has been observed following the fall of the Assad government is during the formation ceremony for the transitional government where it was used in addition the the independence flag. During the Ba'athist-era the Ba'ath party flag was frequently used with the national flag but Wikipedia never referred to it as a co-official flag nor was it included in the infobox. Until there is a formal announcement about the status of the white flag, the current infobox format, where the independence flag is listed as the de-facto national flag, and the white flag as an additional flag sometimes used by the transitional government accurately reflects the situation on the ground. Dn9ahx (talk) 13:45, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion is an archived record of a request for comment. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
To better put it in PAG terms (since TOOSOON is an essay on article notability), option B does not meet WP:V yet since there is no indication in reliable sources that this is the official flag. Will it in the future? Probably. But we're not a WP:CRYSTAL ball and can't predict the future. I think the best option is to show no flag, and have a prominent link to Flag of Syria which explains the situation for readers who aren't versed enough in PAG (which is okay!) to understand why B is inappropriate right now. ―"Ghost of Dan Gurney"(hihi)17:55, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B since we need at least something on there to stop confusing people (who are now accusing the article of being biased towards assad/rojava), this is the best solution until an official flag is declared. ⛿WeaponizingArchitecture | yell at me15:23, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately, that would be considered WP:original research since we would just be inferring that because Syrian embassies are using it, it is official. We need multiple reliable sources to state that for us to move forward. Penguino35 (talk) 17:03, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B along with a caption of "de facto" under the flag. No confirmation of official status yet but there's enough use of it by new government institutions to be able to do so, I would say. Chessrat(talk, contributions)17:53, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sure, but there is already enough use of the three-star flag in an official capacity (various embassies, the football team, the new PM having the flag behind him in official capacity, etc) that we can definitely say that it is the de facto flag even if not yet official. Chessrat(talk, contributions)19:59, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B There are many examples of national flags only existing in a de facto capacity, the most notable example being the Union Jack, which has no official status as the National Flag of the United Kingdom. Are some people here seriously insinuating that the Union Jack should be removed from the UK's Article because it is not "official"? 2204happy (talk) 20:30, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B Enough state institutions have used or showed intent to use it, at this point waiting for a constitutional change would be no different than withholding information. ElementLover (talk) 21:49, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B Waiting for an official source to formally declare it as the new Syrian flag is a valid concern. However, as pointed out above, it has been used pervasively around official circles, such as in a governmental website, waiting for an official announcement would withhold something obvious. I believe WP:IGNORE may be in order here to improve this article. Aintabli (talk) 23:20, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B Flags are not always adopted through "official" legislation or announcements, especially after a regime change. Insisting on an unrealistically high standard of proof here would just obscure the facts on the ground. It is quite obvious what the current national flag of Syria is. AquaVacation (talk) 23:53, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B with the caption “flag of the Syrian transitional government” to show that this is not a prediction of the official flag but rather a de facto flag used by the country and its new government The Great Mule of Eupatoria (talk) 04:54, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B. More than enough sources now, even if there is no one definitive document defining the flag (as others have said, not all governments even have their flags defined by law, such as the Union Jack). The government is using it as "their flag", even if there's no official document confirming as such. It can be listed as "de facto flag" or some such in the infobox if needed.</MarkiPoli> <talk /><cont />
A: The current situation regarding government is still unclear, and until all of this is sorted out and we see it being used officially, then no flag should be displayed. CutlassCiera19:09, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B. We're featuring a coat of arms with the new flag, but not the flag itself? Am I the only one to find that situation ridiculous? Besides, the new flag is currently used everywhere in the media to represent Syria. It's the de facto flag of Syria. Khuft (talk) 23:56, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Except that the new coat of arms is now prominently featured on government websites. If that's not an official sanction, I don't know what is. Khuft (talk) 19:51, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B. This discussion is completely ridiculous. The flag is everywhere, established (for 13 years!!) and universally accepted by the Opposition forces in Damascus. The whole of Wikipedia's coverage of the Syrian Civil War is wildly pro-Regime (look at how rarely Government abuses are mentioned and how many articles rely on purely openly pro-Assad sources such as al-Masdar), but this filibustering of legitimising the new flag is really something (not to be proud of). Nrg800 (talk) 10:41, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree with using the other flag as well. While the PM may be using it together with the revolutionary flag, it's not being used in any other institutions, eg. embassies. If it becomes more widespread in its use, we can reconsider, but for now, the green-white-black flag is the only one in widespread use. Khuft (talk) 19:50, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B We now have a statement that the Kurds are adopting the flag as well.[3] I respect the caution here, but this is the flag of Syria, and whatever official endorsement that some folks are waiting for may never come, as it would seem redundant by those involved.GreatCaesarsGhost14:17, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B - The "Independence Flag" is already being used by the country's legislature, government, ministries, embassies abroad and football association. In the most recent video appearance, the new prime minister appeared with the "independence flag" alone. The flag is already being used in the infobox for Syria in many other languages and by Wikidata. The white religious flag is most likely being used as an additional flag such as the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander flags in Australia or the Wiphala in Bolivia. Dn9ahx (talk) 15:37, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B – It's time to make the change. There's now abundant sourcing of multiple official uses of the new flag. I understand being cautious at first, but we don't need to wait any longer. Wburrow (talk) 15:57, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
B This flag is now being used by the Syrian parliament, the Syrian transitional government, and Syrian embassies internationally. Skitash (talk) 16:37, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Move to Close RfC The consensus is clear, 80% of the latest 25 votes are for using the new flag and only 8 out of the 36 votes in total say it should remain as No Flag. The RfC page says voting should "last until enough comment has been received that consensus is reached, or until it is apparent that it won't be. There is no required minimum or maximum duration". We have both enough comment and enough consensus, especially as mountains more evidence has come out supporting the use of the flag over the past days. The idea that there is a voting period that needs to elapse before any change can be made is wrong. The guidelines explicitly say "editors should not wait for that [period to expire]". Consensus is clear, the widespread and formal use of the flag is clear. This continued filibustering is frankly embarrassing. The current 'solution' is one that 20% of people think is appropriate, and is clearly outdated. Nrg800 (talk) 00:11, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree. Plus, why would they ever announce a new flag? It's CLEARLY obvious enough to deem it necessary. It'd be extremely redundant. Zabezt (talk) 01:14, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Same reason any country announces a flag, to indicate to other countries and institutions that that particular symbol should be used to represent their state. At some point for example, a country with a new flag will need to transmit that information to the United Nations for use on lists such as this one. CMD (talk) 05:57, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That's just how it works. Someone who starts an RfC cannot withdraw it if there have been votes already cast, and someone who's participated cannot WP:SUPERVOTE by closing the discussion a particular way. Hey man im josh (talk) 12:20, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Right, this requires following our policies, not an RfC. The answer here is A, as there are no sources. However, once we have a source, it'll immediately flip to whatever that source says, likely B, possibly something else. If more sources develop to contest that, which is possible, then that's an entirely new discussion. CMD (talk) 04:20, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't fault Chaotic Enby for trying to consolidate everything above into one RfC. The root issue is impatience of trying to ram through the revolutionary flag which lead to so many threads in the first place. ―"Ghost of Dan Gurney"(hihi)04:39, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As much as I agree that it is the most reasonable, policy-based argument, the fact that people repeatedly ask to change it and that the infobox situation keeps getting reverted means that it is better to have this formally settled. Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 07:00, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
On the wider question of should we use it, that file still has Syrian Arab Republic written on it, so while it could be the planned CoA moving forward it could also be the very quick work of one webdev who wanted to change one flag. CMD (talk) 13:04, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Per this source, the AANES/Rojava have officially adopted the independence flag. They explicitly note they are not the central government, but nonetheless this is an official statement of a national flag, as they also have a regional flag. CMD (talk) 13:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I prefer the model that I suggested in a discussion below, with the white religious flag being displayed separately.It is evident that the "independence flag" is significantly more widely used by state institutions than the white religious flag, which seems to me mainly being used by the cabinet, and even when used by the cabinet, it is always used in conjunction with the "independence flag". Dn9ahx (talk) 15:50, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
In this edit a few minutes ago, ElijahPepe reverted a sentence and stated via inline comment: "WAIT FOR CONFIRMATION; THE REUTERS SOURCE IS A CLAIM". I see where the disagreement lies, but I really don't think this is valid. Reuters is extraordinarily reliable for substantiating this sort of thing, and the very first sentence of its article reads: "Syria's army command has notified officers that President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule has ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters, following a rapid rebel offensive that took the world by surprise." I think the sentence: "On 8 December 2024, both the rebels and the Syrian Army's command declared that al-Assad's rule had ended." should be reinstated to the lead where it was. Very obviously the rebels have stated this, so I assume the contention ElijahPepe sees is with the SAA command's statement. I get the claim hinges on one officer, but Reuters seems pretty confident this is what has happened. Putting it up to a discussion because arbitration + I'm fallible. TheTechnician27(Talk page)04:20, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If you mean that a major news outlet reports not just that an official has said this but that there's some sort of official broadcast by SAA officials or that multiple SAA officials or the PM inform the major outlet of the same thing, then that's sensible; I can work with that. TheTechnician27(Talk page)04:33, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Similarly, if there ends up being a dispute within the rebel coalition. I think it's fairly obvious that neither the SDF in the northeast nor pockets of ISIS in the south can claim to be the real Syria(TM), but if infighting starts up within the coalition, then potentially. I think they seem pretty unified overall right now, though. TheTechnician27(Talk page)04:48, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's pretty clear to everyone at this point that the "internationally recognized government of Syria" is no longer internationally recognized as of the last hour or so with the exceptions of a few rogue nations like Russia and Iran which might consider al-Assad a government in exile. The SAA command has ceded control to the rebels; the prime minister has ceded control; and in general, it seems like outside of the northwest (remnants of the SAA), the northeast (the SDF), and the south (small pockets of ISIS), the rebels have full control over and widespread support/minimal resistance within most of the country's major cities including Damascus. The US for example yesterday acknowledged that a military defeat would mark the end of the regime. There really seems to be no dispute outside of Assad himself (who is one man, not the parliament which seem to be peacefully transitioning) and small areas in the northwest (but under this logic, we could've considered Assad's government disputed due to the large SDF presence in the northeast). Even Assad does not appear to have formally challenged this yet, likely trying to keep a low profile while he escapes into exile. TheTechnician27(Talk page)05:06, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In this case, it should still be clarified that the government described in the government and politics section is not currently the government of Syria. Bismarx (talk) 05:09, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Need to see what reliable sources say. The situation seems to me to be less of a dispute over which government is legitimate, but rather that there now is no single government in the country, with the remnants of the previous government de facto being a transitional government waiting to be dissolved. Gust Justice (talk) 04:52, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, wait, the Reuters article gives I think compelling evidence it's still disputed. "Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that Assad's regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters. But the Syrian army later said it was continuing operations against "terrorist groups" in the towns of Hama and Homs and Deraa countryside." TheTechnician27(Talk page)06:26, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Infobox: Name of prime minister should be reinstated
This seems messy to me. On the one hand, al-Jalali hasn't left the country and hasn't abdicated the role of PM. However, per the article linked above by the IP: "Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Sunday that it was prohibited to go near public institutions that he said will remain under the supervision of the "former prime minister" until it is officially handed over." So it hasn't yet officially been handed over, but he's also "former"? It's weird. TheTechnician27(Talk page)04:56, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.
Obviously, changes have been made to the article/infobox to remove the Assad's regime as the one official government, and not mentioning any disputed government factions either as the situation is totally unclear as yet. Correspondingly, I request that: (1) The "official languages" infobox section, which lists only Arabic with a citation to the Assad regime constitution, be removed. The citation is now inappropriate, and Arabic-only is now inaccurate because the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria also has Kurdish. (2) The "currency" infobox section be removed or changed to list several. The rebel areas apparently use Turkish Lira and immediately introduced it in Aleppo [5][6], so the status of the Syrian Pound is equally uncertain as all the other government infobox sections. The Kurdish areas apparently also use USD [7]. Micler (talk) 05:01, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
How can you argue it's appropriate to list no official name, no form of government, no president, no flag, but leave an official language with a reference to a constitution? Micler (talk) 05:18, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not saying the language is changed, but I'm saying that IF the Syrian Arab Republic is not considered official for purposes of the infobox, THEN the Syrian Arab Republic Constitution cannot dictate anything in the infobox. Micler (talk) 05:27, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Cowboygilbert: Please go ahead and take a look at the changes I've made. I think they work quite nicely given the situation. I list (with citations) the 'Major languages' as Arabic and the 'Minor languages' as Kurdish and Aramaic. I don't get into dialects, obviously, or the infobox would be 10 km long. I don't think it's fair for us anymore to call Arabic the 'official language' (we cite this to the Syrian constitution from 2012) because it doesn't seem like there's much of an official anything anymore outside of maybe a capital and a lame duck prime minister. Meanwhile, this also gives us a chance to accurately represent the two most prevalent minority languages. I think Micler's suggestion was a reasonable one and that I've made it work better than what we had before. TheTechnician27(Talk page)05:41, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding the currency, I think I provided a reliable source that would support either listing >1 currency, or at least not listing the SYP. The Reuters article says: Another sign of intent was printed price lists at petrol stations in Syrian pounds as well as Turkish lira, and U.S. dollars. HTS had long banned the Syrian pound from being used in Idlib but was allowing both it and U.S. dollars to be used in Aleppo.Micler (talk) 05:20, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The new regime is here and they are nothing like the Baathist Syria. I think that the Syria article ends here and a new article should be made marking this new point in Syrian history. RFC btw Abo Yemen✉06:03, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This is not a history article. While the Government and politics section will likely change dramatically soon, that does not change the entire page. CMD (talk) 07:35, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This article is ridiculously prematurely moved. I am not pro-Assad in any shape or form but comparing this to the capture of Afghanistan by the Taliban, this is ridiculously premature. First of all the former took a few days for everyone to fathom and understand, second of all, Syria is not a former state up to 2024. Parts of the nation still remain under government control, like Latakia.
Second of all, it is simply silly to present Syria as a neutral country with a vacant presidency. As of right now the very concept of a President is empty in Syria, which is split three-ways not counting Israeli annexed lands in the southwest. Why is Syria presented as an empty unified state waiting for a leader?
The article for Assad's Syria should remain without Assad, for now, until the situation becomes clearer. This is trigger happy moderation. There's also no "Syrian Transitional Government", either self-appointed or an internationally recognised one. There's multiple governments right now in what used to be Syria. 145.40.150.167 (talk) 07:13, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There's just so many inconsistencies it is ridiculous.
What is a "de facto" capital of a non-existent state?
What is a "President" post of a region in dispute with multiple governments? None of the three factions in charge (four, if you include Israeli territories) have any post that call themselves a President. None of the three non-Assad factions that aim to control Syria indicated any desire to have a head of state or government called President. For example HTS leader al-Julani calls himself an Emir. The Rojava has Co-Chairs.
All the other country-related points like "currency" and "time zone" etc are now false given the lack of a constitution ruling over what is left of the land.
Either move the article back to Syrian Arab Republic and simply remove Assad as President and link it to the Civil War or completely delist Syria as a country and leave it as a region, much like the Tibet or Moravia articles exist. Absolutely nobody will benefit from fake news such as the Syrian Pound being used in what is left of Syria right now. Or that Syria is waiting for a vacant President.
or how about we wait till we have more info? Bashar had fled from syria and Damascus was captured by the opposition. The SAR is no more Abo Yemen✉07:31, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The article should not represent the SAR as it is unclear what state(s) is/are in control of Syria. It would be inaccurate to keep the SAR as the representative state as that government has been confirmed to have been deposed by multiple sources. It should stay as a generic article of Syria as a country until there is more clarity. This article should also not be about Syria as a region because there is an ongoing civil war and there is no implication that Syria as a country no longer exists. Slothwizard (talk) 07:47, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The article is being vandalized by everyone, for example why is it written that the secondary languages are Kurdish and Aramaic, and they are not official languages in the first place and are not used, and the sources for this in the information box have nothing to do with the matter, such as the source about the Kurdish language, while Aramaic is about the Aramaic language from thousands of years ago and its history and not now, I hope to correct the information box and remove Minor languages from the box and return it as it was, and return the name of the country to the Syrian Arab Republic, the fall of the regime does not mean changing the name of the country 109.107.230.237 (talk) 11:51, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Skitash, it appears you have been removing info from this source in the infobox claiming it is WP:OR: It is in fact already cited. Here is the link: [8] It is the most recent source in the infobox, and I can’t fathom the reason you are putting forward. Aintabli (talk) 14:13, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This is what I meant by the figure being WP:OR. What makes Alawites Arab but not "Levantines"? The CIA World Factbook is unreliable when it comes to Syrian ethnic groups, as it appears to mash up ethnic groups (Arabs), religious groups (Alawites), and geographical designations (Levantines). The source even seems to be including "Nusairi" (another name for Alawites) under the "~15% other" statistic, which is why we should rely on the other sources. Skitash (talk) 14:37, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That is respectfully not convincing at all. You could try seeking consensus at WP:RSN. Intriguingly, the other two references are from an earlier version of the World Factbook (same source!): [9] (Ctr+F "CIA World Factbook July 2012 estimate") So, you fancy one version of the same source and have not sought any clear consensus on the inclusion of a source that is widely cited throughout Wikipedia and elsewhere. Aintabli (talk) 14:41, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I suggest you read what WP:NOR says. The source clearly makes no mention of the 65% figure, so including it is obviously original research based on your own judgement as to who is Arab or not. Skitash (talk) 14:44, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, if that's your main concern, the source should be reflected as is. And it should most logically replace its earlier versions. Aintabli (talk) 14:47, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ethnoreligious groups exist. You probably want to ask WP:RSN. These are all your personal interpretations and not based on RS. This has been the long-standing version until several months ago. Apart from that, it is not understandable why you would want to keep one version of the source and cite but not entertain the most recent one. What I can come up for the moment is to replace the figures with "Various estimates" and link it to the relevant section. Would you agree with this? Aintabli (talk) 15:02, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Skitash, please respond to my suggestion, which is to remove the percentages given there is ambiguity how to dissect certain groups. We can link the relevant section for the percentages. Aintabli (talk) 20:12, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
"remove the percentages" Why should we omit the percentages when these cited sources[10][11] provide clear ethnic breakdowns? The CIA World Factbook source does not divide ethnic groups, but rather conflates ethnic groups, religious groups, and Shia sects, making it unsuitable for this purpose. Skitash (talk) 20:23, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Let me get this straight. The same source is reliable in 2012 but not reliable in 2024 because it contradicts with your personal inferences. Aintabli (talk) 20:38, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Alawites are Arabs, the Druze are Arabs, the Levantines are Arabs, and among them are the Ismailis, the Imamis, and the Nusayris as well. The CIA World Factbook talks about religious beliefs and matters specifically, and Skitash provided other sources, so why do you want to distort and sabotage the article??? 109.107.230.237 (talk) 14:54, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
why do you want to distort and sabotage the article???
Syria's opinion on whether it disputes the territory inherently defines what we consider disputed. It seems plausible this will change with the new government being heavily influenced by the Turkish government, but it nonetheless remains that Syria has not officially resolved the dispute. TheTechnician27(Talk page)15:28, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is it relevant? Imo they didn't even care until the Syrian civil war, used more like a tool to annoy Turkey. It's even unclear if they officially claim it. But the map should show the difference between a claim for Hatay (UN recognized Turkish territory) and Golan (UN recognized occupied Syrian territory). Beshogur (talk) 09:27, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Kadı It's not about effective control. As Bronzehorn notes, the Baathist government claimed it as part of Syria (and we don't know what the new govt will do it about it).
@Yeagvr, my nationality is irrelevant with this discussion. Please do not make comments about user's nationalities. I see Venezuela example, I do not support these kinds of maps but, if it works like that in enwiki, I do not say anything again. KadıMessage15:34, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Kadı I didn't say it was relevant, but that it could be a reason for misunderstanding.
It was certainly not a negative comment about your nationality.
@Yeagvr, is there a clear policy on this? I looked up some examples and using the light green this liberally seems counterproductive to me. This is akin to marking Catalonia and the Basque territory out of Spain, because there are non-negligible claims being made there, or we know that many Palestinian groups (some internationally recognised) claim all of Israel. Not all claims hold the same amount of water. I assume you may be using a logic of checking whether a recognised country is making these claims (which would rule out carving out Spain for example) but this is also awkward. There are many countries that claim other territories without doing anything about it, without furthering their claims, without any real plan to get them back etc. Like, in Turkey, there are people who want to revive the Ottoman Empire, if this became official state policy, would we mark a whole lot of Europe and the middle East as light green as well?
What Hatay is within this spectrum of legitimate dispute vs dispute only in words, can be up for debate. I myself am not very knowledgeable about the details of the Syrian claims. Also, having this mindset should also make Hatay light green in the Turkey picture, in order to be consistent. But that would be perhaps even weirder.
Perhaps not the only thing to consider, but I would consider the ideal kind of disputed territory to be one in which the de facto and de jure rulers are different. This is the case in Crimea for example, while being legally recognised as part of Ukraine by most of the world, it is de facto controlled by Russia, making it a perfect candidate for light green. As for Hatay, it has been under the legal and practical rule of Turkey for almost a century at this point, and there hasn't been any real effort from Syria to get it back, either diplomatically or militarily. (Although there does seem to be some cultural work they are doing to raise awareness of Turkification in Hatay, but this isn't even close to annexing)
I would invite you to consider these aspects of the situation and maybe we can create a Wikipedia guideline for this (if there isn't one, if there is I'd be happy if you could send it here)
The light green is a standard part of the map convention, for when territory is seriously claimed, but not controlled. CMD (talk) 01:25, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@CMD the opposite is also true, right? When an area is controlled, but the more recognised claim is by someone else. Like Crimea is light green for both Russia and Ukraine, the Golan heights are light green for both Syria and Israel, etc. Egezort (talk) 11:15, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The map does not reflect the international recognition and it is true that Hatay is fully controlled by Turkey, however since its a claim made by the Baathist government it should be changed upon confirmation of a new government and declarations made by it. Bronzehorn (talk) 15:23, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I agree. There's so much in flux right now, we should not presume anything the new government(s) might do or not do. Until such a time as official policies change, the old position endures with the context it might change in the future. JarlJberk (talk) 18:26, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia specifically highlights territorial claims of countries in their maps, usually with light green (like in the map used in the infobox). The map is not 'incorrect', it's simply highlighting the fact that Syria claims the area. TheodoresTomfooleries (talk) 16:03, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As I stated on Wikimedia Commons, the 2005 agreements state that the two countries recognize each other's borders. The former Syrian regime does not claim any rights over Hatay. [12]Gökhan Can (talk) 21:50, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Removal of the "Current related" template concerning the entire article
The template had already been applied to the section "Government and politics". I think that is sufficient, as the remaining content isn't affected by the fall of the Assad government.
Please signal your opinion in replies below using the text "Support"/"Oppose". It would also be good to find contributors who added this template and call them to this discussion. Y. Dongchen (talk) 22:50, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There are two different spellings for this man's first name in the article. The man's own article spells it Hafez, but there are numerous Hafiz in this article. I realize that Arabic letters can translate to two or more English letters, but it should be consistent. I've always seen Hafez, and heard his name pronounced that way. GBC (talk) 22:52, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The opposition have an elected president named Hadi al-Bahra, who's really calling the shots and represents the Syrian National Coalition. I motion that in the infobox next to President, his name is added in but include "(de facto)". JayzBox (talk) 02:37, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In the map it still shows Syrian claims on the Hatay province of Türkiye. It's unclear if the transitional government still claims Hatay, so until they make a formal statement best to remove. PrecariousWorlds (talk) 07:29, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I do not think there is enough evidence yet to claim that the new government is not claiming Hatay however a government website is using a logo without the Hatay province of Türkiye.
No official leader has been named for Syria yet, but I agree that the flag should be changed as it is being used officially and has been for a while. It's been used at the embassy in Moscow and shown on state media news channels. NoahMusic2009 (talk) 14:58, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thought not in constution, The current transistional administation recognised by this very page has been posing with the opposition flag in communications as recent as 4 days, a still from the same video is even used on the page of the current transistional prime minister which is linked on this page as well. So in a move to make information available faster I believe that flag should be added to this page as well, which will also respect the de-facto truth at ground. ElementLover (talk) 18:46, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Stop forcing. You don't need a constitution. Many countries have no constitution either. Taliban has no constitution either. Afghanistan Islamic Emirate is not even recognized. That's not how wikipedia works. WP:IDONTLIKEITBeshogur (talk) 09:05, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
WP:IDONTLIKEITI have made it clear that i want to use the revolutionary flag once they establish their state (Also the taliban has its own constitution what are you on about Abo Yemen✉09:07, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Add the new coat of arms as seen on the official government website.
https://pministry.gov.sy/ has been updated to display a new coat of arms. In addition to the flag which has already been requested by other users I believe this should be added as well since the coat of arms was displayed until the Ba'athist regime fell. Lucid177 (talk) 23:36, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@TheMisterMooseMan: A flag will not be added prior to a full 7 days from the start of the RfC discussion. After 7 days, an uninvolved editor will assess the weight of the arguments and determine consensus, keeping in mind that it's WP:NOTAVOTE. Alternatively, the discussion may be relisted in an effort to get more more comments. Hey man im josh (talk) 21:35, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Coat of Arms of Syria represents the official state symbol, as recognized by the Syrian Prime Ministry. Abu Mohammad al-Julani is the de facto leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, exerting significant authority in parts of northwestern Syria, as detailed on his [page]. This distinction highlights the complex political and administrative structure within Syria, with multiple entities exercising control.
https://pministry.gov.sy/
please answer back asp to me boss! JNOJ1423📘 (talk) 01:41, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Jolani did not declare himself the de jure or de facto leader of Syria, he just has authority over civil affairs to a degree so I personally say No to this idea.
That's very amateur from them, but I highly doubt rebels using the name "Arab Republic", since it's a Ba'athist thing. There is no constitution either. But I support inclusion of the flag and coa like other users since it's used de facto for now. Beshogur (talk) 09:03, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Gaddafi left the title Federation of Arab Republics on the Libyan coat of arms decades after it ceased to exist so it's not without precedent.
Secondly 'Arab Republic' is a Nasserism and is unrelated to, and predates Ba'athist rule in Syria, hence why Ba'athist Iraq never used the title 'Arab Republic'. Thegunkid (talk) 05:41, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's not an issue of precedent, it's an issue the large amount of original research going on producing contradictory article information. I was not the one who removed Syrian Arab Republic from the infobox. CMD (talk) 05:51, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, that's definitely what the state used to be called, and we'll see if there's a change to the official name when the Constitution is adopted (by June). Also, that's what is written on the Coat of Arms, and on the government website. There is also the fact that that's what they're long name registered with the UN is and they haven't gotten around to changing that yet. Littau Eric (talk) 16:44, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They say the exact same thing with the exact same symbols/diacritics and the only difference is the designer's/Claigrapher's preference of placing the symbols. (which is the case with the Taliban's flag btw) Abo Yemen✉15:20, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In Arabic caligraphy those diacritics are purely decorative, it's like Black letter when you add extra lines or diamonds to letters or you add a tail to the letter N or K and so on. Thegunkid (talk) 04:01, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
the Shahada isn't seen anywhere since the screenshots were taken. and other then the green-white-black flag there was never consensus from the rebel factions on it. i think wikipedia was too quick declaring it the secondary flag. it should be removed asap 2A02:8108:2988:4200:556B:8B28:EDA3:F740 (talk) 00:18, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Syrian national anthem, Humat ad-diyar (sorry I am not an Arabic speaker) has been used back since the foundation of the First Syrian Republic in 1930, the year Hafez al-Assad was born. So literally the anthem had already gained legitimacy even before the Ba'athist coup. The new interim government has not decided if they are to keep or to abandon it, but it has to be paid attention. Humat ad-diyar will remain Syria de facto national anthem until any solution is passed. HiddenFace101 (talk) 07:46, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't see why people think the name is so controversial, it pre-dates Ba'athist rule and was simply the name choosen when Syria reestablished it's independence from Egypt in 1961. Thegunkid (talk) 11:02, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah i dont think that they would change the state's name. They are Arabs and they are going to establish an Arab state so i don't think that the name is going to change Abo Yemen✉11:34, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They are Arabs and they are going to establish an Arab state the Arab Republic is a Ba'athist thing. I highly doubt Syria under Jolani is going to use a nationalist name. For now the transistional government seems to use it. The name can stay on the infobox imo. Beshogur (talk) 14:43, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
they may, they probably will, as way of appeasing and integrating the SDF. But we shall see. This has been a bone that Syrian Kurds have had with Damascus for decades. BasilLeaf (talk) 15:22, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So then why don't we add the revolutionary flag in, given that it is more than obviously the Syrian flag at this point? You seem to be the main person gatekeeping this change. Brother Jerome (talk) 15:12, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What gatekeeping? I literally changed my vote above to include the new flag. You gotta wait for the RFC to end before seeing any change on that infobox Abo Yemen✉15:15, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Not done: That's not a standard part of the template, and that particular map wouldn't look great at the thumbnail resolution of the infobox. PianoDan (talk) 23:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Ba’athist regime fell, and the SAR is no longer the official government of Syria and it should not be referred to as such, regardless of the STG’s recognition status. LordOfWalruses (talk) 00:32, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Transitional Government is issuing decrees using the name Syrian Arab Republic as well as using it as a hashtag on Arabic Twitter for their official announcements as well as retaining it on all the official letterhead and the new seal of the Ministry of Foreign affairs.
It should be noted 'Arab Republic' has nothing to do with Ba'athism (hence why the only other Ba'athist state, Iraq, never used the title 'Arab Republic') and comes from Pan-Arabism (Both Libya and North Yemen became 'Arab Republics') and was the name Syria reestablished it's independence under in 1961 as a multi-party democratic state before the Ba'athists overthrew the Government in 1963. Thegunkid (talk) 03:54, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
'Syrian Arab Republic' predates Ba'athists rule in Syria, and isn't related to Ba'athism but comes from Nasserism, hence Iraq the only other Ba'athist state never adopted the title of 'Arab Republic', but North Yemen and Libya which never had any Ba'ath influence, did use the title, and Egypt still is officially the Egyptian Arab Republic. Thegunkid (talk) 02:29, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Until Syria's new government gives a new official name, the top of the infobox and the rest of the page where an "official" name would usually be listed should just say "Syria". StrawWord298944 (talk) 01:37, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Thegunkid yes but there is a mistake there. The website, provides itself an english name. According that, it is called Syrian Arabic Republic, not Syrian Arab Republic. Could you change it? Greek Rebel (talk) 15:55, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That is so wrong and it is probably a bad translation the same way at one point their website had "Republic" written as "Rebublic" Abo Yemen✉18:37, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There's every chance most of the changes we are seeing are ad-hoc actions taken by individual organizations or even single individuals, so little mistakes will slip through. If the Arabic is not changed, it's probably not worth making too much of how the English is written at this time. CMD (talk) 19:05, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Lets reiterate, the Transitional Government is issuing decrees in Arabic, using the full name الجمهورية العربية السورية, or Syrian Arab Republic, in Arabic, English is not an official language of Syria so it's irrelevant the English letterhead has typos. Thegunkid (talk) 02:14, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Syria proper shown in dark green; Syria's territorial claims over most of Turkey's Hatay Province and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights shown in light greenShow globe
^Cite error: The named reference Khalifa2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Shoup, John A. (2018), The History of Syria, ABC-CLIO, p. 6, ISBN978-1440858352, Syria has several other ethnic groups, the Kurds... they make up an estimated 9 percent...Turkomen comprise around 4-5 percent of the total population. The rest of the ethnic mix of Syria is made of Assyrians (about 4 percent), Armenians (about 2 percent), and Circassians (about 1 percent).
^Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
@Dn9ahx thank you for reverting this vandalism. it doesn't look like you reverted the change to the arabic country TLD which should not read "ash-sham".
also - the edit box was conflicting - can I edit this article? it's semi protected and I'm autoconfirmed, but there's an additional disclaimer saying I need to be extended protected or I may be blocked from editing. WittyWidi (talk) 23:46, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I’m not an Arabic speaker so sorry if i missed the mistake. Please write the code that needs changing on this talk page and i will correct the infobox. Dn9ahx (talk) 23:52, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Isn't this article presumptuous calling it "Syrian Arab Republic" when they're essentially in some sort of anarchy with many factions saying they're in charge? 174.249.85.73 (talk) 21:48, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The statement "The Invasion purpose was to prevent the establishment of the State of Israel." is neither true nor is it upheld by the source given, which only states "The humiliating failure of the Arab intervention in Palestine against the newly created State of Israel in May 1948 brought serious discredit to the governments of the Arab countries involved, but nowhere more than in Syria."
Syria was part of the Arab League and their official statement was that they were intervening in Palestine because of the lawlessness there and the ethnic cleansing: "The recent disturbances in Palestine further constitute a serious and direct threat to peace and security within the territories of the Arab States themselves. For these reasons, and considering that the security of Palestine is a sacred trust for them, and out of anxiousness to check the further deterioration of the prevailing conditions and to prevent the spread of disorder and lawlessness into the neighbouring Arab lands, and in order to fill the vacuum created by the termination of the Mandate and the failure to replace it by any legally constituted authority, the Arab Governments find themselves compelled to intervene for the sole purpose of restoring peace and security and establishing law and order in Palestine." (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cablegram_from_the_Secretary-General_of_the_League_of_Arab_States_to_the_Secretary-General_of_the_United_Nations) Mcdruid (talk) 04:17, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.
The ethnic composition of Syria is mixed as referenced on the same Wikipedia page, wherein Arabs comprise the majority but Kurds and Turkmens comprise a significant percentage of the total population. Accordingly, the official name of the country should be inclusive as the ‘Republic of Syria,’not ‘Syrian Arab Republic.’ The Syrian Arab Republic name suggests that the country is comprised of Syrian Arabs and excludes other minorities such as Syrian Kurds. Ahmadsfelo (talk) 12:47, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Are we jumping to conclusions based the use of this flag at one meeting? If so, should we hide it from the infobox until its status and use becomes more clear? Dn9ahx (talk) 20:52, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
there are two editors without any source are playing with the number of Turkmen in Syria, making an absurd edit that 17% of Syrians are Turkmen. can someone revert that unsourced edit. Alhanuty (talk) 17:14, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think there is enough evidence to list him as "acting president". However, he could be listed as "de facto Leader", "Leader", "acting head of state", "de facto head of state" etc. I think further discussion or a poll to establish a consensus is in order. Dn9ahx (talk) 13:59, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Not done: No reliable source given + we already have 2 sources agreeing on the 2.5% figure [18] says "While accurate numbers are hard to come by, their population is believed to have shrunk to about 2.5% from 10%." Abo Yemen✉07:27, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There's some grammatical errors at the end of the religions paragraph in the demographics section. "and 3.84% are Syrian are Christians at 2020.[7]" Zzabka (talk) 03:29, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 24 December 2024
Controlled territory shown in dark green; Syria's claims over most of Turkey's Hatay Province and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights shown in light greenShow globe
The name "Syria" historically referred to a wider region, broadly synonymous with the Levant and known in Arabic as ash-Sham. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the 3rd millennium BC. Damascus and Aleppo are cities of great cultural significance. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital for the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The modern Syrian state was established in the mid-20th century after centuries of Ottoman rule, as a French Mandate. The state represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Syrian provinces. It gained de jure independence as a parliamentary republic in 1945 when the First Syrian Republic became a founding member of the United Nations, an act which legally ended the French Mandate. French troops withdrew in April 1946, granting the nation de facto independence.
Several sources indicate that the name Syria is derived from the 8th century BC Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: Σύριοι, Sýrioi, or Σύροι, Sýroi, both of which originally derived from Aššūr (Assyria) in northern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and north-eastern Syria).[18][19] However, from the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BC), this term was also applied to the Levant,[20] and from this point the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant.[21][22] Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favors the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, ultimately derived from the AkkadianAššur.[23] The Greek name appears to correspond to Phoenicianʾšr "Assur", ʾšrym "Assyrians", recorded in the 8th century BC Çineköy inscription.[24]
The area designated by the word has changed over time. Classically, Syria lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, between Arabia to the south and Asia Minor to the north, stretching inland to include parts of Iraq, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene.[25]
By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent from each other): Judaea, later renamed Palaestina in AD 135 (the region corresponding to modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Jordan) in the extreme southwest; Phoenice (established in 194) corresponding to modern Lebanon, Damascus and Homs regions; Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") and south of the Eleutheris river.[26]
The Natufian culture was the first to become sedentary around the 11th millennium BC[27] and became one of the centers of Neolithic culture (known as Pre-Pottery Neolithic A), where agriculture and cattle breeding first began to appear. The site of Tell Qaramel has several round stone towers dated to 10650 BC, making them the oldest structures of this kind in the world.[28][29] The Neolithic period (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) is represented by rectangular houses of Mureybet culture. At the time, people used containers made of stone, gyps, and burnt lime (Vaisselle blanche). The discovery of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidence of early trade. The ancient cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only that of Mesopotamia.
Ishqi-Mari, king of the Second Kingdom of Mari, circa 2300 BC
The earliest recorded indigenous civilization in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla[30] near present-day Idlib, northern Syria. Ebla appears to have been founded around 3500 BC[31][32][33][34][35] and gradually built its fortune through trade with the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Assyria, and Akkad, as well as with the Hurrian and Hattian peoples to the northwest, in Asia Minor.[36] Gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Ebla's contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is a trading agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c. 2300 BC. This is known as the Treaty between Ebla and Abarsal.[37][38] Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be among the oldest known written Semitic languages after Akkadian. Recent classifications of the Eblaite language have shown that it was an East Semitic language, closely related to the Akkadian language.[39] Ebla was weakened by a long war with Mari, and the whole of Syria became part of the Mesopotamian Akkadian Empire after Sargon of Akkad and his grandson Naram-Sin's conquests ended Eblan domination over Syria in the first half of the 23rd century BC.[40][41]
By the 21st century BC, Hurrians settled in the northern east parts of Syria while the rest of the region was dominated by the Amorites. Syria was called the Land of the Amurru (Amorites) by their Assyro-Babylonian neighbors. The Northwest Semitic Amorite language is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages. Mari reemerged during this period until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia. Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages and developed the Ugaritic alphabet,[42] considered to be the world's earliest known alphabet. The Ugaritic kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC in what was known as the Late Bronze Age Collapse.
Aleppo and Damascus are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.[43]Yamhad (modern Aleppo) dominated northern Syria for two centuries,[44] although eastern Syria was occupied in the 19th and 18th centuries BC by the Old Assyrian Empire ruled by the Amorite dynasty of Shamshi-Adad I, and by the Babylonian Empire which was founded by Amorites. Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi.[44] Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh,[45]Qatna,[46] the Hurrians states, and the Euphrates valley down to the borders with Babylon.[47] The army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam (modern Iran).[48] Yamhad was conquered and destroyed, along with Ebla, by the Hittites from Asia Minor circa 1600 BC.[49] From this time, Syria became a battle ground for various foreign empires, these being the Hittite Empire, Mitanni Empire, Egyptian Empire, Middle Assyrian Empire, and to a lesser degree Babylonia. The Egyptians initially occupied much of the south, while the Hittites and the Mitanni occupied much of the north. However, Assyria eventually gained the upper hand, destroying the Mitanni Empire and annexing huge swathes of territory previously held by the Hittites and Babylon.
Syrians bringing presents to Pharaoh Tuthmosis III, as depicted in the tomb of Rekhmire, circa 1450 BCE (actual painting and interpretational drawing). They are labeled "Chiefs of Retjenu".[50][51]
Around the 14th century BC, various Semitic people appeared in the area, such as the semi-nomadic Suteans who came into an unsuccessful conflict with Babylonia to the east, and the West Semitic speaking Arameans who subsumed the earlier Amorites. They too were subjugated by Assyria and the Hittites for centuries. The Egyptians fought the Hittites for control over western Syria; the fighting reached its zenith in 1274 BC with the Battle of Kadesh.[52][53] The west remained part of the Hittite empire until its destruction c. 1200 BC,[54] while eastern Syria largely became part of the Middle Assyrian Empire,[55] who also annexed much of the west during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I 1114–1076 BC. With the destruction of the Hittites and the decline of Assyria in the late 11th century BC, the Aramean tribes gained control of much of the interior, founding states such as Bit Bahiani, Aram-Damascus, Hamath, Aram-Rehob, Aram-Naharaim, and Luhuti. From this point, the region became known as Aramea or Aram. There was also a synthesis between the Semitic Arameans and the remnants of the Indo-European Hittites, with the founding of a number of Syro-Hittite states centered in north central Aram (Syria) and south central Asia Minor (modern Turkey), including Palistin, Carchemish and Sam'al.
A Canaanite group known as the Phoenicians came to dominate the coasts of Syria, (and also Lebanon and northern Palestine) from the 13th century BC, founding city states such as Amrit, Simyra, Arwad, Paltos, Ramitha, and Shuksi. From these coastal regions, they eventually spread their influence throughout the Mediterranean, including building colonies in Malta, Sicily, the Iberian peninsula, and the coasts of North Africa and most significantly, founding the major city-state of Carthage in the 9th century BC, which was much later to become the center of a major empire, rivaling the Roman Republic.
Syria and the western half of Near East then fell to the vast Neo Assyrian Empire (911 BC – 605 BC). The Assyrians introduced Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca of their empire. This language was to remain dominant in Syria and the entire Near East until after the Islamic conquest in the 7th and 8th centuries AD, and was to be a vehicle for the spread of Christianity. The Assyrians named their colonies of Syria and Lebanon Eber-Nari. Assyrian domination ended after the Assyrians greatly weakened themselves in a series of brutal internal civil wars, followed by attacks from: the Medes, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. During the fall of Assyria, the Scythians ravaged and plundered much of Syria. The last stand of the Assyrian army was at Carchemish in northern Syria in 605 BC. The Assyrian Empire was followed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (605 BC – 539 BC). During this period, Syria became a battle ground between Babylonia and another former Assyrian colony, that of Egypt. The Babylonians, like their Assyrian relations, were victorious over Egypt.
Lands that constitute modern-day Syria were part of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and had been annexed by the Achaemenid Empire in 539 BC. Led by Cyrus the Great, the Achaemenid Persians retained Imperial Aramaic as one of the diplomatic languages of their empire, as well as the Assyrian name for the new satrapy of Aram/Syria Eber-Nari. Syria was conquered by the Macedonian Empire which was ruled by Alexander the Great c. 330 BC and consequently became Coele-Syria province of the Seleucid Empire (323 BC – 64 BC), with the Seleucid kings styling themselves "King of Syria" and the city of Antioch being its capital starting from 240 BC. Thus, it was the Greeks who introduced the name "Syria" to the region. Originally an Indo-European corruption of "Assyria" in northern Mesopotamia (Iraq), the Greeks used this term to describe not only Assyria itself but also the lands to the west which had for centuries been under Assyrian dominion.[56] Thus in the Greco-Roman world both the Arameans of Syria and the Assyrians of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) to the east were referred to as "Syrians" or "Syriacs", despite these being distinct peoples in their own right, a confusion which would continue into the modern world. Eventually parts of southern Seleucid Syria were taken by the JewishHasmonean dynasty upon the slow disintegration of the Hellenistic Empire.
Syria briefly came under Armenian control from 83 BC, with the conquests of the Armenian king Tigranes the Great, who was welcomed as a savior from the Seleucids and Romans by the Syrian people. However, Pompey the Great, a general of the Roman Empire, rode to Syria and captured Antioch and turned Syria into a Roman province in 64 BC, thus ending Armenian control over the region which had lasted two decades. Syria prospered under Roman rule, being strategically located on the Silk Road, which gave it massive wealth and importance, making it the battleground for the rivaling Romans and Persians.
Palmyra, a rich and sometimes powerful native Aramaic-speaking kingdom, arose in northern Syria in the 2nd century; the Palmyrene established a trade network that made the city one of the richest in the Roman Empire. Un the late 3rd century the Palmyrene king Odaenathus defeated the Persian emperor Shapur I and controlled the entirety of the Roman East while his successor and widow Zenobia established the Palmyrene Empire, which briefly conquered Egypt, Syria, Palestine, much of Asia Minor, Judah and Lebanon, before being finally brought under Roman control in 273.
The northern Mesopotamian Assyrian kingdom of Adiabene controlled areas of north east Syria between 10 and 117, before it was conquered by Rome.[57] The Aramaic language has been found as far afield as Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain,[58] with an inscription written by a Palmyrene emigrant at the site of Fort Arbeia.[59] Control of Syria eventually passed from the Romans to the Byzantines with the split in the Roman Empire.[36] The largely Aramaic-speaking population of Syria during the heyday of the Byzantine Empire was probably not exceeded again until the 19th century. Prior to the Arab Islamic Conquest in the 7th century, the bulk of the population were Arameans, but Syria was also home to Greek and Roman ruling classes, Assyrians still dwelt in the north east, Phoenicians along the coasts, and Jewish and Armenian communities were also extant in major cities, with Nabateans and pre-Islamic Arabs such as the Lakhmids and Ghassanids dwelling in the deserts of southern Syria. Syriac Christianity had taken hold as the major religion, although others still followed Judaism, Mithraism, Manicheanism, Greco-Roman Religion, Canaanite Religion and Mesopotamian Religion. Syria's large and prosperous population made Syria one of the most important of the Roman and Byzantine provinces, particularly during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[60]
The ancient city of Apamea, an important commercial center and one of Syria's most prosperous cities in classical antiquity
Syrians held considerable power during the Severan dynasty. The matriarch of the family and empress of Rome as wife of emperor Septimius Severus was Julia Domna, a Syrian from the city of Emesa (modern day Homs), whose family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the god El-Gabal. Her great nephews, also Arabs from Syria, would also become Roman emperors, the first being Elagabalus and the second his cousin Alexander Severus. Another Roman emperor who was a Syrian was Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Philippus), who was born in Roman Arabia. He was emperor from 244 to 249[60] and ruled briefly during the Crisis of the Third Century. During his reign, he focused on his home town of Philippopolis (modern day Shahba) and began many construction projects to improve the city, most of which were halted after his death.
Muhammad's first interaction with the people of Syria was during the invasion of Dumatul Jandal in July 626[61] where he ordered his followers to invade Duma, because Muhammad received intelligence that some tribes there were involved in highway robbery and were preparing to attack Medina.[62]William Montgomery Watt claims that this was the most significant expedition Muhammad ordered at the time, even though it received little notice in the primary sources. Dumat Al-Jandal was 800 kilometres (500 mi) from Medina, and Watt says that there was no immediate threat to Muhammad, other than the possibility that his communications to Syria and supplies to Medina would be interrupted. Watt says "It is tempting to suppose that Muhammad was already envisaging something of the expansion which took place after his death", and that the rapid march of his troops must have "impressed all those who heard of it".[63]William Muir also believes that the expedition was important as Muhammad followed by 1,000 men reached the confines of Syria, where distant tribes had learnt his name, while the political horizon of Muhammad was extended.[61]
By 640, Syria was conquered by the Rashidun army led by Khalid ibn al-Walid. In the mid-7th century, the Umayyad dynasty placed the capital of the empire in Damascus. The country's power declined during later Umayyad rule; this was mainly through totalitarianism, corruption and the resulting revolutions. The Umayyad dynasty was overthrown in 750 by the Abbasid dynasty, which moved the capital of empire to Baghdad. Arabic – made official under Umayyad rule[64] – became the dominant language, replacing Greek and Aramaic of the Byzantine era. In 887, the Egypt-based Tulunids annexed Syria from the Abbasids and were later replaced the Egypt-based Ikhshidids and then by the Hamdanids originating in Aleppo founded by Sayf al-Dawla.[65]
Sections of Syria were held by French, English, Italian and German overlords between 1098 and 1189 during the Crusades and were known collectively as the Crusader states, among which the primary one in Syria was the Principality of Antioch. The coastal mountainous region was occupied in part by the Nizari Ismailis, the so-called Assassins, who had intermittent confrontations and truces with the Crusader States. Later in history when "the Nizaris faced renewed Frankish hostilities, they received timely assistance from the Ayyubids."[66] After a century of Seljuk rule, Syria was largely conquered (1175–1185) by the Kurdish liberator Salah ad-Din, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt. Aleppo fell to the Mongols of Hulegu in January 1260; Damascus fell in March, but then Hulegu was forced to break off his attack to return to China to deal with a succession dispute.
A few months later, the Mamluks arrived with an army from Egypt and defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ain Jalut in Galilee. The Mamluk leader, Baibars, made Damascus a provincial capital. When he died, power was taken by Qalawun. In the meantime, an emir named Sunqur al-Ashqar had tried to declare himself ruler of Damascus, but he was defeated by Qalawun on 21 June 1280 and fled to northern Syria. Al-Ashqar, who had married a Mongol woman, appealed for help from the Mongols. The Mongols of the Ilkhanate took Aleppo in October 1280, but Qalawun persuaded Al-Ashqar to join him, and they fought against the Mongols on 29 October 1281 in the Second Battle of Homs, which was won by the Mamluks.[67] In 1400, the Muslim Turco-Mongol conqueror Tamurlane invaded Syria, in which he sacked Aleppo[68] and captured Damascus after defeating the Mamluk army. The citys' inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans who were deported to Samarkand.[69] Tamurlane conducted massacres of the Assyrian Christian population, greatly reducing their numbers.[70] By the end of the 15th century, the discovery of a sea route from Europe to the Far East ended the need for an overland trade route through Syria.
In 1516, the Ottoman Empire invaded the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, conquering Syria and incorporating it into its empire. The Ottoman system was not burdensome to Syrians because the Turks respected Arabic as the language of the Quran and accepted the mantle of defenders of the faith. Damascus was made the major entrepot for Mecca, and as such it acquired a holy character to Muslims, because of the beneficial results of the countless pilgrims who passed through on the hajj.[71]
Ottoman administration followed a system that led to peaceful coexistence. Each ethno-religious minority—Arab Shia Muslim, Arab Sunni Muslim, Syriac Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Maronite Christians, Assyrian Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Jews—constituted a millet.[72] The religious heads of each community administered all personal status laws and performed certain civil functions as well.[71] In 1831, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt renounced his loyalty to the empire and overran Ottoman Syria, capturing Damascus. His short-term rule over the domain attempted to change the demographics and social structure of the region: he brought thousands of Egyptian villagers to populate the plains of southern Syria, rebuilt Jaffa and settled it with veteran Egyptian soldiers aiming to turn it into a regional capital, and he crushed peasant and Druze rebellions and deported non-loyal tribesmen. By 1840, however, he had to surrender the area back to the Ottomans. From 1864, Tanzimat reforms were applied on Ottoman Syria, carving out the provinces (vilayets) of Aleppo, Zor, Beirut and Damascus Vilayet; Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon was created, and soon after the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was given a separate status.
During World War I, the Ottoman Empire entered the conflict as a Central Power. It ultimately suffered defeat and loss of control of the entire Near East to the British Empire and French Empire. During the conflict, genocide against indigenous Christian peoples was carried out by the Ottomans and their allies in the form of the Armenian genocide and Assyrian genocide, of which Deir ez-Zor in Ottoman Syria was the final destination of these death marches.[73] In the midst of World War I, two Allied diplomats (Frenchman François Georges-Picot and BritonMark Sykes) secretly agreed on the post-war division of the Ottoman Empire into respective zones of influence in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. Initially, the two territories were separated by a border that ran in an almost straight line from Jordan to Iran. However, the discovery of oil in the region of Mosul just before the end of the war led to yet another negotiation with France in 1918 to cede this region to the British zone of influence, which was to become Iraq. The fate of the intermediate province of Zor was left unclear; its occupation by Arab nationalists resulted in its attachment to Syria. This border was recognized internationally when Syria became a League of Nations mandate in 1920[74] and has not changed to date.
In 1920, a short-lived independent Kingdom of Syria was established under Faisal I of the Hashemite family. However, his rule over Syria ended after only a few months, following the Battle of Maysalun. French troops occupied Syria later that year after the San Remo conference proposed that the League of Nations put Syria under a French mandate. General Gouraud had according to his secretary de Caix two options: "Either build a Syrian nation that does not exist... by smoothing the rifts which still divide it" or "cultivate and maintain all the phenomena, which require our arbitration that these divisions give". De Caix added "I must say only the second option interests me". This is what Gouraud did.[75][76]
In 1925, Sultan al-Atrash led a revolt that broke out in the Druze Mountain and spread to engulf the whole of Syria and parts of Lebanon. Al-Atrash won several battles against the French, notably the Battle of al-Kafr on 21 July 1925, the Battle of al-Mazraa on 2–3 August 1925, and the battles of Salkhad, al-Musayfirah and Suwayda. France sent thousands of troops from Morocco and Senegal, leading the French to regain many cities, although resistance lasted until the spring of 1927. The French sentenced al-Atrash to death, but he had escaped with the rebels to Transjordan and was eventually pardoned. He returned to Syria in 1937 after the signing of the Syrian-French Treaty.
Syria and France negotiated a treaty of independence in September 1936, and Hashim al-Atassi was the first president to be elected under the first incarnation of the modern republic of Syria. However, the treaty never came into force because the French Legislature refused to ratify it. With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of Vichy France until the British and Free French occupied the country in the Syria-Lebanon campaign in July 1941. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalists and the British forced the French to evacuate their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate.[77]
Upheaval dominated Syrian politics from independence through the late 1960s. In May 1948, Syrian forces invaded Palestine, together with other Arab states, and immediately attacked Jewish settlements.[78] President Shukri al-Quwwatli instructed his troops in the front, "to destroy the Zionists".[79][80] The invasion purpose was to prevent the establishment of the state of Israel.[81] Toward this end, the Syrian government engaged in an active process of recruiting former Nazis, including several former members of the Schutzstaffel, to build up their armed forces and military intelligence capabilities.[82] Defeat in this war was one of several trigger factors for the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état by Colonel Husni al-Za'im, described as the first military overthrow of the Arab World[81] since the start of the Second World War. This was soon followed by another overthrow, by Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi, who was quickly deposed by Colonel Adib Shishakli, all within the same year.[81]
Aleppo in 1961
Shishakli eventually abolished multipartyism altogether but was overthrown in a 1954 coup, and the parliamentary system was restored.[81] However, by this time, power was increasingly concentrated in the military and security establishment.[81] The weakness of Parliamentary institutions and the mismanagement of the economy led to unrest and the influence of Nasserism and other ideologies. There was fertile ground for various Arab nationalist, Syrian nationalist, and socialist movements, which represented disaffected elements of society. Notably included were religious minorities, who demanded radical reform.[81]
In November 1956, as a direct result of the Suez Crisis,[83] Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union. This gave a foothold for communist influence within the government in exchange for military equipment.[81]Turkey then became worried about this increase in the strength of Syrian military technology, as it seemed feasible that Syria might attempt to retake İskenderun. Only heated debates in the United Nations lessened the threat of war.[84]
On 1 February 1958, Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli and Egypt's Nasser announced the merging of Egypt and Syria, creating the United Arab Republic, and all Syrian political parties, as well as the communists therein, ceased overt activities.[77] Meanwhile, a group of Syrian Ba'athist officers, alarmed by the party's poor position and the increasing fragility of the union, decided to form a secret Military Committee; its initial members were Lieutenant-Colonel Muhammad Umran, Major Salah Jadid and Captain Hafiz al-Assad. Syria seceded from the union with Egypt on 28 September 1961, after a coup and terminated the political union.
The 1963 Ba'athist coup marked a "radical break" in modern Syrian history, after which Ba'ath party monopolised power in the country to establish a one-party state and shaped a socio-political order by enforcing its state ideology.[86] On 23 February 1966, the neo-Ba'athist Military Committee carried out an intra-party rebellion against the Ba'athist Old Guard (Aflaq and Bitar), imprisoned President Amin al-Hafiz and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government on 1 March.[81] Although Nureddin al-Atassi became the formal head of state, Salah Jadid was Syria's effective ruler from 1966 until November 1970,[87] when he was deposed by Hafiz al-Assad, who at the time was Minister of Defense.[88]
The coup led to the schism within the original pan-Arab Ba'ath Party: one Iraqi-led ba'ath movement (ruled Iraq from 1968 to 2003) and one Syrian-led ba'ath movement was established. In the first half of 1967, a low-key state of war existed between Syria and Israel. Conflict over Israeli cultivation of land in the Demilitarized Zone led to 7 April pre-war aerial clashes between Israel and Syria.[89] When the Six-Day War broke out between Egypt and Israel, Syria joined the war and attacked Israel as well. In the final days of the war, Israel turned its attention to Syria, capturing two-thirds of the Golan Heights in under 48 hours.[90] The defeat caused a split between Jadid and Assad over what steps to take next.[91] Disagreement developed between Jadid, who controlled the party apparatus, and Assad, who controlled the military. The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat during the "Black September (also known as the Jordan Civil War of 1970)" hostilities with Jordan reflected this disagreement.[92]
The power struggle culminated in the November 1970 Syrian Corrective movement, a bloodless military coup that installed Hafiz al-Assad as the strongman of the government.[88] Assad transformed a Ba'athist party state into a totalitarian dictatorship marked by his pervasive grip on the party, armed forces, secret police, media, education sector, religious and cultural spheres and all aspects of civil society. He assigned Alawite loyalists to key posts in the military forces, bureaucracy, intelligence and the ruling elite. A cult of personality revolving around Hafiz and his family became a core tenet of Ba'athist ideology,[93] which espoused that Assad dynasty was destined to rule perennially.[94] On 6 October 1973, Syria and Egypt initiated the Yom Kippur War against Israel. The Israel Defense Forces reversed the initial Syrian gains and pushed deeper into Syrian territory.[95] The village of Quneitra was largely destroyed by the Israeli army. In the late 1970s, an Islamist uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood was aimed against the government. Islamists attacked civilians and off-duty military personnel, leading security forces to also kill civilians in retaliatory strikes. The uprising had reached its climax in the 1982 Hama massacre,[96] when more than 40,000 people were killed by Syrian military troops and Ba'athist paramilitaries.[97][98] It has been described as the "single deadliest act" of violence perpetrated by any state upon its own population in modern Arab history[97][98]
In a major shift in relations with both other Arab states and the Western world, Syria participated in the United States-led Gulf War against Saddam Hussein. The country participated in the multilateral Madrid Conference of 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in negotiations with Israel along with Palestine and Jordan. These negotiations failed, and there have been no further direct Syrian-Israeli talks since Assad's meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.[99]
21st century, civil war and fall of the Ba'athist regime
Hafiz al-Assad died on 10 June 2000. His son, Bashar al-Assad, was elected president in an election in which he ran unopposed.[77] His election saw the birth of the Damascus Spring and hopes of reform, but by autumn 2001 the authorities had suppressed the movement, imprisoning some of its leading intellectuals.[100] Instead, reforms have been limited to some market reforms.[93][101][102] On 5 October 2003 Israel bombed a site near Damascus, claiming it was a terrorist training facility for members of Islamic Jihad.[103] In March 2004, Syrian Kurds and Arabs clashed in al-Qamishli. Signs of rioting were seen in Qamishli and Hasakeh.[104] In 2005, Syria ended its military presence in Lebanon.[105]Assassination of Rafic Hariri in 2005 led to international condemnation and triggered a popular Intifada in Lebanon, known as "the Cedar Revolution" which forced the Assad regime to end its 29-year old of military occupation in Lebanon.[106] On 6 September 2007, foreign jet fighters, suspected as Israeli, reportedly carried out Operation Orchard against a suspected nuclear reactor under construction by North Korean technicians.[107]
Military situation in December 2015. Islamic State-controlled territory is in grey.
The Syrian civil war is an ongoing internal violent conflict in Syria. It is a part of the wider Arab Spring, a wave of upheaval throughout the Arab World. Public demonstrations across Syria began on 26January 2011 and developed into a nationwide uprising. Protesters demanded the resignation of Assad, the overthrow of his government, and an end to nearly five decades of Ba'ath Party rule. Since spring 2011, the Syrian government deployed the Syrian Army to quell the uprising, and several cities were besieged,[108][109] though the unrest continued. According to some witnesses, soldiers, who refused to open fire on civilians, were summarily executed by the Syrian Army.[110] The Syrian government denied reports of defections, and blamed armed gangs for causing trouble.[111] Since early autumn 2011, civilians and army defectors began forming fighting units, which began an insurgency campaign against the Syrian Army. The insurgents unified under the banner of the Free Syrian Army and fought in an increasingly organized fashion; however, the civilian component of the armed opposition lacked an organized leadership.[112]
Pro-Assad demonstration in the capital Damascus after US-led missile strikes in April 2018
The Arab League, the United States, the European Union states, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and other countries have condemned the use of violence against the protesters.[112] China and Russia have avoided condemning the government or applying sanctions, saying that such methods could escalate into foreign intervention. However, military intervention has been ruled out by most countries.[137][138][139] The Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the government's response to the crisis,[140] but sent an observer mission in December 2011, as part of its proposal for peaceful resolution of the crisis.[139]
In December 2024, violence flared up once again. Rebel factions, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), took control of Aleppo in a lightning offensive, prompting a retaliatory airstrike campaign by Syrian regime forces, supported by Russian aviation assets. The strikes, which targeted population centers and several hospitals in rebel-held city of Idlib, resulted in at least 25 deaths according to the White Helmets rescue group. NATO issued a joint statement calling for the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure to prevent further displacement and ensure humanitarian access. They stressed the urgent need for a Syrian-led political solution, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which advocates for dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition forces.
The rebel offensive, which had begun on 27 November, continued its advance into Hama province following their capture of Aleppo.[141][142][143] On 4 December, fierce clashes erupted in Hama province as the Syrian army engaged rebel forces in a bid to halt their advance on the key city of Hama. Government forces claimed to have launched a counteroffensive with air support, pushing back rebel factions, including HTS, around six miles from the city. However, despite reinforcements, the rebels captured the city on 5 December.[144] The fighting led to widespread displacement, with nearly 50,000 people fleeing the area and over 600 casualties reported, including 104 civilians.[145]
Rebel forces reached the outskirts of Homs on 5 December, beginning a three-day battle for the city. Simultaneously, an HTS-coordinated[146][147]mass uprising led by a coalition of Druze tribes and opposition forces captured the southern cities of Suwayda and Daraa by 6 December,[148] and rapidly advanced northwards to encircle Damascus over the following day.[149] Homs was captured by rebel forces by the early morning of 8 December, leaving no major regime strongholds between the rebel advance and Damascus itself.[150]
Cut off from the Alawite heartland of Tartus and Latakia governorates, faced with a rebel pincer from both north and south bearing down on Damascus, and with no hope of foreign intervention from the regime's Russian and Iranian benefactors, Assadist authority over remaining regime-held territories rapidly disintegrated.[151][152] The Syrian Arab Armed Forces melted away as its soldiers abandoned their weapons and uniforms,[153] many deserting across the border to Iraq and Lebanon. Opposition forces captured the capital Damascus on 8 December, toppling Bashar al-Assad's government and ending the Assad family's 53-year-long rule over the country.[154] Assad fled to Moscow with his family, where he was granted asylum.[155][156]
Prior to the fall of the Assad regime, Mohammed al-Bashir headed the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) formed in the province of Idlib by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist militant organization which led the overthrow of Assad in December 2024. In general, the formation of the Transitional Government was scaling of the SSG "to the whole of Syria", as the composition of the new government was almost the same as of the one of the SSG. According to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, critics and opponents of the HTS were subject to repression in forms of enforced disappearances and tortures.[161]
Shortly after the fall of the Assad regime, Israel commenced a ground invasion of the Purple Line buffer zone near the Golan Heights, as well as commencing a series of airstrikes against Syrian military depots and naval bases.[162][163] The Israeli Defense Forces claims that it is destroying Ba'athist military infrastructure, including chemical weapons plants, so that the rebels cannot use them.[162]
Despite the collapse of the Assad regime, Turkish-backed Syrian National Army fighters in northern Syria continued their offensive against U.S.-backed SDF forces until a ceasefire was reached on 11 December.[168][169] The HTS also joined the offensive against the SDF, attempting to disarm and integrate the latter into the HTS-led armed forces by threatening the SDF with a full-scale assault against SDF-held areas; the HTS acts consistently with the demands of Turkey which stated that to "eliminate" the SDF is one of its strategic objectives.[170]
The prime minister of the transitional government, Mohammed al-Bashir, has promised to allow Christians and other minorities to continue practicing their religion without interference. However, this has been met with doubts as many rebel forces had previous connections to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.[171][172][173] The use of a variation of the Tawhid flag by the new government alongside the opposition flag also raised worries, as it implies that the new state may be less secular.[164][165] A lack of female representation within the transitional cabinet has also been criticised.[174]Aisha al-Dibs was appointed as the Minister of Women's Affairs on 22 December 2024.[175]
On 12 December 2024, a spokesman of the transitional government speaking to Agence France-Presse said that during the government's three-month term, the constitution and parliament would be suspended and that a 'judicial and human rights committee' would be established to review the constitution, prior to making amendments.[176]
Syria is the twelfth most water-stressed country in the world.
Syria's climate varies from the humid Mediterranean coast, through a semi-arid steppe zone, to arid desert in the east. The country consists mostly of arid plateau, although the northwest part bordering the Mediterranean is fairly green. Al-Jazira in the northeast and Hawran in the south are important agricultural areas. The Euphrates, Syria's most important river, crosses the country in the east. Syria is one of the fifteen states that comprise the so-called "cradle of civilization".[177] Its land straddles the northwest of the Arabian plate.[178]
Petroleum in commercial quantities was first discovered in the northeast in 1956. The most important oil fields are those of al-Suwaydiyah, Karatchok, Rmelan near al-Hasakah, as well as al-Omar and al-Taym fields near Dayr az–Zawr. The fields are a natural extension of the Iraqi fields of Mosul and Kirkuk. Petroleum became Syria's leading natural resource and chief export after 1974. Natural gas was discovered at the field of Jbessa in 1940.[77]
The Syrian Arab Republic was a presidential state[181] that nominally permitted the candidacy of individuals who were not part of the Ba'ath-controlled National Progressive Front.[182][183] Despite this, Syria remained a one-party state with an extensive secret police apparatus that curtailed any independent political activity.[184][185] The constitution introduced unilaterally by the Assad regime, without the participation of the Syrian opposition, had bolstered its authoritarian character by bestowing extraordinary powers on the presidency, and a Ba'athist political committee continued to be responsible for authorization of political parties.[186]
The ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party governed Syria as a totalitarian police state through its control of the Syrian military and security apparatus.[187] The 50th edition of Freedom in the World, published by Freedom House in 2023, designated Syria as "Worst of the Worst" among the "Not Free" countries and gave it the lowest score (1/100) alongside South Sudan.[184][188]
The executive branch consisted of the president, two vice presidents, the prime minister, and the Council of Ministers (cabinet). The constitution required the president to be a Muslim but did not make Islam the state religion.[197][198] On 31 January 1973, Hafiz al-Assad implemented a new constitution, which led to a national crisis. Unlike previous constitutions, this one did not require that the President of Syria be a Muslim, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs, and Aleppo organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the traditional ulama. They labelled Assad the "enemy of Allah" and called for a jihad against his rule.[199] The government survived a series of armed revolts led mostly by Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, between 1976 and 1982, through a series of repressions and massacres. The constitution gave the president the right to appoint ministers, to declare war and state of emergency, to issue laws (which, except in the case of emergency, require ratification by the People's Council), to declare amnesty, to amend the constitution, and to appoint civil servants and military personnel.[197] According to the 2012 constitution, the president was elected by Syrian citizens in a direct election. Syria's legislative branch was the unicameral People's Council. The People's Council primarily served as an institution to validate Syria's one-party system and re-affirm the legislative proceedings of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party.[200]
There was no independent judiciary in Syria, since all judges and prosecutors were required to be Ba'athist appointees.[184] Syria's judicial branches include the Supreme Constitutional Court, the High Judicial Council, the Court of Cassation, and the State Security Courts. Islamic jurisprudence was a main source of legislation and Syria's judicial system had elements of Ottoman, French, and Islamic laws. Syria had three levels of courts: courts of first instance, courts of appeals, and the constitutional court, the highest tribunal. Religious courts handled questions of personal and family law.[197] The Supreme State Security Court was abolished by Bashar al-Assad in 2011.[201] As a result of the ongoing civil war, various alternative governments were formed, including the Syrian Interim Government, the Democratic Union Party and localized regions governed by sharia. Representatives of the Syrian Interim government were invited to take up Syria's seat at the Arab League in 2013 and[202] was recognised as the "sole representative of the Syrian people" by several nations including the United States, United Kingdom, and France.[203][204][205]
Syria's elections are conducted through a sham process; characterised by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems.[206][207][208] Parliamentary elections were held on 13 April 2016 in the government-controlled areas of Syria, for all 250 seats of Syria's unicameral legislature, the Majlis al-Sha'ab, or the People's Council of Syria.[209] Even before results had been announced, several nations, including Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, have declared their refusal to accept the results, largely citing it "not representing the will of the Syrian people."[210] However, representatives of the Russian Federation have voiced their support of this election's results. Various independent observers and international organizations have denounced the Assad regime's electoral conduct as a scam; with the United Nations condemning it as illegitimate elections with "no mandate".[211][212][213][208]Electoral Integrity Project's 2022 Global report designated Syrian elections as a "facade" with the worst electoral integrity in the world alongside Comoros and Central African Republic.[214][215] Three alternative governments formed during the Syrian civil war, the Syrian Interim Government (formed in 2013), Rojava (formed in 2016) and the Syrian Salvation Government (formed in 2017), control northern areas of the country and operated independently of the Syrian Arab Republic.
While entertaining some foreign relations, the region is not officially recognized as autonomous by the government of Syria or any state[223] though it has been recognized by the regional Catalan Parliament.[224][225] The AANES has widespread support for its universal democratic, sustainable, autonomous pluralist, equal, and feminist policies in dialogues with other parties and organizations.[226][227][228][229] Northeastern Syria is polyethnic and home to sizeable ethnic Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian populations, with smaller communities of ethnic Turkmen, Armenians, Circassians,[230] and Yazidis.[231][232][233]
The supporters of the region's administration state that it is an officially secular polity[234][235] with direct democratic ambitions based on an anarchistic, feminist, and libertarian socialist ideology promoting decentralization, gender equality,[236][237] environmental sustainability, social ecology and pluralistic tolerance for religious, cultural and political diversity, and that these values are mirrored in its constitution, society, and politics, stating it to be a model for a federalized Syria as a whole, rather than outright independence.[238][239][240][241] The region's administration has also been accused by some partisan and non-partisan sources of authoritarianism and support of the Syrian government.[242] However, despite this the AANES has been the most democratic system in Syria, with direct open elections, universal equality, respecting human rights within the region, as well as defense of minority and religious rights within Syria.[243][244][245][226][246][247][248][excessive citations]
In 2019 the SDF announced that it had reached an agreement with the Syrian Army which allowed the latter to enter the SDF-held cities of Manbij and Kobani in order to dissuade a Turkish attack on those cities as part of the cross-border offensive by Turkish and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels.[249] The Syrian Army also deployed in the north of Syria together with the SDF along the Syrian-Turkish border and entered into several SDF-held cities such as Ayn Issa and Tell Tamer.[250][251] Following the creation of the Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone the SDF stated that it was ready to work cooperatively with the Syrian Army if a political settlement between the Syrian government and the SDF was achieved.[252]
Ensuring national security, increasing influence among its Arab neighbors, and securing the return of the Golan Heights, have been the primary goals of Syria's foreign policy. At many points in its history, Syria has seen virulent tension with its geographically cultural neighbors, such as Turkey, Israel, Iraq, and Lebanon. Syria enjoyed an improvement in relations with several of the states in its region in the 21st century, prior to the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war.
Since the ongoing civil war of 2011 and associated killings and human rights abuses, Syria has been increasingly isolated from the countries in the region and the wider international community. Diplomatic relations have been severed with several countries including: Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, United States, Belgium, Spain, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.[253]
Map of world and Syria (red) with military involvement:
Countries that supported the government of Bashar al-Assad
Countries that supported the Syrian opposition
From the Arab league, Syria continues to maintain diplomatic relations with Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Yemen. Following its violent suppression of the Arab Spring protests of the 2011 Syrian Revolution, the Syrian government was suspended from the Arab League in November 2011 for over 11 years, until its reinstatement in 2023.[254] Syria also quit the Union for the Mediterranean.[255] After 11 years, the Arab League readmitted Syria.[256] The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation suspended Syria in August 2012 citing "deep concern at the massacres and inhuman acts" perpetrated by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad.[16]
In 1939, while Syria was still a French mandate the French allowed a plebiscite regarding the Sanjak of Alexandretta joining to Turkey as part of a treaty of friendship in World War II. In order to facilitate this, a faulty election was done in which ethnic Turks who were originally from the Sanjak but lived in Adana and other areas near the border in Turkey came to vote in the elections, shifting the election in favor of secession. Through this, the Hatay Province of Turkey was formed. The move by the French was very controversial in Syria, and only five years later Syria became independent.[257] Despite the Turkish annexation of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, the Syrian government has refused to recognize Turkish sovereignty over the region since Independence, except for a short period in 1949.[258]
The western two-thirds of Syria's Golan Heights region are since 1967 occupied by Israel and were in 1981 effectively annexed by Israel,[259][260] whereas the eastern third is controlled by Syria, with the UNDOF maintaining a buffer zone in between, to implement the ceasefire of the Purple Line. Israel's 1981 Golan annexation law is not recognized in international law. The UN Security Council condemned it in Resolution 497 (1981) as "null and void and without international legal effect." Since then, General Assembly resolutions on "The Occupied Syrian Golan" reaffirm the illegality of Israeli occupation and annexation.[261] The Syrian government continues to demand the return of this territory.[262]
In early 1976, Syria entered Lebanon, beginning their 29-year military presence. Syria entered on the invitation of Suleiman Franjieh, the Maronite Christian president at the time to help aid the Lebanese Christian militias against the Palestinian militias.[263][264] Over the following 15 years of Lebanese civil war, Syria fought for control over Lebanon. The Syrian military remained in Lebanon until 2005 in response to domestic and international pressure after the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.[265]
Another disputed territory is the Shebaa farms, located in the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The farms, which are 11km long and about 3 kilometers wide were occupied by Israel in 1981, along with rest of the Golan Heights.[266] Yet following Syrian army advances the Israeli occupation ended and Syria became the de facto ruling power over the farms. Yet after Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah claimed that the withdrawal was not complete because Shebaa was on Lebanese – not Syrian – territory.[267] After studying 81 different maps, the United Nations concluded that there is no evidence of the abandoned farmlands being Lebanese.[268] Nevertheless, Lebanon has continued to claim ownership of the territory.
The President of Syria is commander in chief of the Syrian Armed Forces, comprising some 400,000 troops upon mobilization.The military is a conscripted force; males serve 30 months in the military upon reaching the age of 18.[269] The obligatory military service period is being decreased over time, in 2005 from two and a half years to two years, in 2008 to 21 months and in 2011 to year and a half.[270]
The breakup of the Soviet Union—long the principal source of training, material, and credit for the Syrian forces—may have slowed Syria's ability to acquire modern military equipment. It has an arsenal of surface-to-surface missiles. In the early 1990s, Scud-C missiles with a 500-kilometre (310-mile) range were procured from North Korea, and Scud-D, with a range of up to 700 kilometres (430 miles), is allegedly being developed by Syria with the help of North Korea and Iran, according to Zisser.[271]
Syria received significant financial aid from Arab states of the Persian Gulf as a result of its participation in the Persian Gulf War, with a sizable portion of these funds earmarked for military spending. Iran and Russia are biggest suppliers of military aid to the Assad-led Syrian Government.
The authorities are accused of arresting democracy and human rights activists, censoring websites, detaining bloggers, and imposing travel bans. Arbitrary detention, torture, and disappearances are widespread.[277][278][281] Although Syria's constitution guarantees gender equality, critics say that personal statutes laws and the penal code discriminate against women and girls. Moreover, it also grants leniency for so-called honour killing.[281] As of 9 November 2011 during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations reported that of the over 3,500 deaths, over 250 deaths were children as young as two years old, and that boys as young as 11 years old have been gang-raped by security services officers.[282][283]People opposing President Assad's rule claim that more than 200, mostly civilians, were massacred and about 300 injured in Hama in shelling by the government forces on 12 July 2012.[284]
In August 2013, the government was suspected of using chemical weapons against its civilians. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it was "undeniable" that chemical weapons had been used in the country and that al-Assad's forces had committed a "moral obscenity" against his own people. "Make no mistake," Kerry said. "President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapon against the world's most vulnerable people. Nothing today is more serious, and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny".[285] The Emergency Law, effectively suspending most constitutional protections, was in effect from 1963 until 21 April 2011. It was justified by the government in the light of the continuing war with Israel over the Golan Heights.[197][201]
In August 2014, UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay criticized the international community over its "paralysis" in dealing with the civil war gripping the country, which by 2014 had resulted in 191,369 deaths with war crimes, according to Pillay, being committed with total impunity on all sides in the conflict. Minority Alawites and Christians were targeted by Islamists and other groups.[286][287][288][280] Three years later in April 2017, the U.S. Navy carried out a missile attack against a Syrian air base[289] which had allegedly been used to conduct a chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians, according to the U.S. government.[290] In November 2021, the U.S. Central Command called a 2019 airstrike that killed civilians in Syria "legitimate". The acknowledgement came after a New York Times investigation said the military had concealed the death of dozens of non-combatants.[291]
Parts of this article (those related to this section) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (December 2024)
Historical development of real GDP per capita in Syria, since 1820Bank Al-Sharq and the Blue Tower Hotel in Damascus
As of 2015[update], the Syrian economy relies upon inherently unreliable revenue sources such as dwindling customs and income taxes which are heavily bolstered by lines of credit from Iran.[292] Iran is believed to have spent between $6billion and US$20billion per year on Syria during the civil war.[293] The economy has contracted 60%, and the Syrian pound has lost 80% of its value, with the economy becoming part state-owned and part war economy.[294] At the outset of the civil war, Syria was classified by the World Bank as a "lower middle income country."[295] In 2010, Syria remained dependent on the oil and agriculture sectors.[296] The oil sector provided about 40% of export earnings.[296] Proven offshore expeditions have indicated that large sums of oil exist on the Mediterranean Sea floor between Syria and Cyprus.[297] The agriculture sector contributes to about 20% of GDP and 20% of employment. Oil reserves are expected to decrease in the coming years, and Syria has become a net oil importer.[296] The government increasingly relies on credit from Iran, Russia and China.[298]
The economy is highly regulated by the government, which has increased subsidies and tightened trade controls to assuage protesters and protect foreign currency reserves.[12] Long-run economic constraints include foreign trade barriers, declining oil production, high unemployment, rising budget deficits, and increasing pressure on water supplies caused by heavy use in agriculture, rapid population growth, industrial expansion, and water pollution.[12] The UNDP announced in 2005 that 30% of the population lives in poverty, and 11.4% live below the subsistence level.[77]
Syria's share in global exports has eroded gradually since 2001.[299] The real per capita GDP growth was just 2.5% per year in the 2000–2008 period.[299] Unemployment is high at above 10%. Poverty rates have increased from 11% in 2004 to 12.3% in 2007.[299] In 2007, main exports included crude oil, refined products, raw cotton, clothing, fruits, and grains. The bulk of imports are raw materials essential for industry, vehicles, agricultural equipment, and heavy machinery. Earnings from oil exports as well as remittances from Syrian workers are the government's most important sources of foreign exchange.[77]
Political instability poses a significant threat to future economic development.[300] Foreign investment is constrained by violence, government restrictions, economic sanctions, and international isolation. Syria's economy also remains hobbled by state bureaucracy, falling oil production, rising budget deficits, and inflation.[300] Prior to the civil war the government hoped to attract new investment in the tourism, natural gas, and service sectors to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil and agriculture. The government began to institute economic reforms aimed at liberalizing most markets, but those reforms were slow and ad hoc, and have been completely reversed since the outbreak of conflict.[301]
As of 2012[update], the value of overall exports has been slashed by two-thirds, from the figure of US$12billion in 2010 to only US$4billion in 2012.[302] Since 2012, oil and tourism industries in particular have been devastated, with US$5billion lost.[302] Reconstruction will cost as much as US$10billion.[302] Sanctions have sapped the government's finances. U.S. and European Union bans on oil imports, which went into effect in 2012, are estimated to cost Syria about $400million per month.[303] Around 40% of all employees in the tourism sector lost their jobs since the beginning of the war.[304] In May 2015, ISIS captured Syria's phosphate mines, one of the Syrian government's last chief sources of income.[305] The following month, ISIS blew up a gas pipeline to Damascus that was used to generate heating and electricity in Damascus and Homs; "the name of its game for now is denial of key resources to the regime" an analyst stated.[306] In addition, ISIS was closing in on Shaer gas field and three other facilities in the area—Hayan, Jihar and Ebla—with the loss of these western gas fields having the potential to cause Iran to further subsidize the Syrian government.[307]Aleppo soap is a popular product of Syria.
Agrarian reform measures were introduced which consisted of three interrelated programs: legislation regulation the relationship between agriculture laborers and landowners: legislation governing the ownership and use of private and state domain land and directing the economic organization of peasants; and measures reorganizing agricultural production under state control.[308] Despite high levels of inequality in land ownership these reforms allowed for progress in redistribution of land from 1958 to 1961 than any other reforms in Syria's history, since independence.
The first law passed (Law 134; passed 4 September 1958) was in response to concern about peasant mobilization and expanding peasants' rights.[309] This was designed to strengthen the position of sharecroppers and agricultural laborers in relation to land owners.[309] This law led to the creation of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which announced the implementation of new laws that would allow the regulation of working condition especially for women and adolescents, set hours of work, and introduce the principle of minimum wage for paid laborers and an equitable division of harvest for sharecroppers.[310] Furthermore, it obligated landlords to honor both written and oral contracts, established collective bargaining, contained provisions for workers' compensation, health, housing, and employment services.[309] Law 134 was not designed strictly to protect workers. It also acknowledged the rights of landlords to form their own syndicates.[309]
Energy in Syria is mostly based on oil and gas.[311] Some energy infrastructure was damaged by the Syrian civil war. There is high reliance on fossil fuels for energy in Syria,[312] and electricity demand is projected to increase by 2030, especially for industry activity such as automation.[313] However, conflict in Syria has caused electricity generation to decrease by nearly 40% in recent years due to plant destruction and fuel shortages.[314] Electricity access in daily life for Syrians has also been altered due to conflict. Electricity to residents of Syria is largely provided by private diesel generators, which is costly and limited in hours of use.[315] Conflict has increased household electricity expenditures while also decreasing household income.[315] Some households have since turned to solar energy as a supplementary source of energy, though high costs limit widespread adoption.[315]
Despite the crisis in Syria, agriculture remains a key part of the economy. The sector still accounts for an estimated 26 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and represents a critical safety net for the 6.7 million Syrians – including those internally displaced – who still remain in rural areas. However, agriculture and the livelihoods that depend on it have suffered massive losses
. Today, food production is at a record low and around half the population remaining in Syria are unable to meet their daily food needs.[316]
Until the mid-1970s, agriculture in Syria was the primary economic activity in Syria. At independence in 1946, agriculture (including minor forestry and fishing) was the most important sector of the economy, and in the 1940s and early 1950s, agriculture was the fastest growing sector. Wealthy merchants from urban centers such as Aleppo invested in land development and irrigation. The rapid expansion of the cultivated area and increased output stimulated the rest of the economy. However, by the late 1950s, there was little land left that could easily be brought under cultivation. During the 1960s, agricultural output stagnated because of political instability and land reform. Between 1953 and 1976, agriculture's contribution to GDP increased (in constant prices) by only 3.2%, approximately the rate of population growth. From 1976 to 1984 growth in agriculture declined to 2% a year, and its importance in the economy declined as other sectors grew more rapidly.
In 1981, as in the 1970s, 53% of the population was still classified as rural, although movement to the cities continued to accelerate. However, in contrast to the 1970s, when 50% of the labor force was employed in agriculture, by 1983 agriculture employed only 30% of the labor force. Furthermore, by the mid-1980s, unprocessed farm products accounted for only 4% of exports, equivalent to 7% of non-petroleum exports. Industry, commerce, and transportation still depended on farm produce and related agro-business, but agriculture's preeminent position had clearly eroded. By 1985 agriculture (including a little forestry and fishing) contributed only 16.5% to GDP, down from 22.1% in 1976.
By the mid-1980s, the Syrian government had taken measures to revitalize agriculture. The 1985 investment budget saw a sharp rise in allocations for agriculture, including land reclamation and irrigation. The government's renewed commitment to agricultural development in the 1980s, by expanding cultivation and extending irrigation, promised brighter prospects for Syrian agriculture in the 1990s.
During the Syrian Civil War, the agricultural sector has witnessed a drop in producing all kinds of commodities such as wheat, cotton and olives,[317] due to the lack of security and immigration of agricultural workforce,[318] especially in Al-Hasakah Governorate and Aleppo Governorate.
Syria has four international airports (Damascus, Aleppo, Lattakia and Qamishli), which serve as hubs for Syrian Air and are also served by a variety of foreign carriers.[319] The majority of Syrian cargo is carried by Syrian Railways.[citation needed] As of 2024 there are no international rail services, but high-speed rail in Turkey is being extended close to the border.[320] The road network in Syria is 69,873 kilometres (43,417 miles) long, including 1,103 kilometres (685 miles) of expressways. The country also has 900 kilometres (560 miles) of navigable but not economically significant waterways.[12]
Syria is a semiarid country with scarce water resources. The largest water consuming sector in Syria is agriculture. Domestic water use stands at only about 9% of total water use.[325] A big challenge for Syria before the civil war was its high population growth (in 2006 the growth rate was 2.7%[326]), leading to rapidly increasing demand for urban and industrial water.[327]
Prior to the fall of the Ba'athist regime on 8 December 2024, Syria was home to a burgeoning illegal drugs industry run by associates and relatives of Bashar al-Assad.[328] It mainly produced captagon, an addictive amphetamine popular in the Arab world. As of 2021, the export of illegal drugs eclipsed the country's legal exports, leading the New York Times to call Syria "the world's newest narcostate".[328] The drug exports allow the government to generate hard currency and bypass international sanctions.[328][329][120] Captagon is Syria's primary export, valued at a minimum of US$3.4 billion annually, surpassing the country's largest legal export, olive oil, which is valued at around US$122 million per year.[330]
Most people live in the Euphrates River valley and along the coastal plain, a fertile strip between the coastal mountains and the desert. Overall population density before the civil war was about 99 per square kilometre (258 per square mile).[333] According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Syria hosted a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 1,852,300. The vast majority of this population was from Iraq (1,300,000), but sizeable populations from Palestine (543,400) and Somalia (5,200) also lived in the country.[334]
In what the UN has described as "the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era",[335] by 2014 about 9.5million Syrians, half the population, had been displaced since March 2011;[336] 4million were outside the country as refugees.[337] By 2020, the UN estimated that over 5.5 million Syrians were living as refugees in the region, and 6.1 million others were internally displaced.[338]
Syrians are an overall indigenous Levantine people, closely related to their immediate neighbors, such as Lebanese, Palestinians, Jordanians and Jews.[339][340] Syria has a population of approximately 18,500,000 (2019 estimate). Syrian Arabs, together with some 600,000 Palestinian not including the 6million refugees outside the country make up roughly 74% of the population.[12] The indigenous Assyrians and Western Aramaic-speakers number around 400,000 people,[341] with the Western Aramaic-speakers living mainly in the villages of Ma'loula, Jubb'adin and Bakh'a, while the Assyrians mainly reside in the north and northeast (Homs, Aleppo, Qamishli, Hasakah). Many (particularly the Assyrian group) still retain several Neo-Aramaic dialects as spoken and written languages.[342]
The second-largest ethnic group in Syria are the Kurds. They constitute about 9%[343] to 10%[5] of the population, or approximately 2 million people (including 40,000 Yazidis[5]). Most Kurds reside in the northeastern corner of Syria and most speak the Kurmanji variant of the Kurdish language.[343] The third largest ethnic group are the Turkish-speaking Syrian Turkmen/Turkoman. There are no reliable estimates of their total population, with estimates ranging from several hundred thousand to 3.5million.[344][345][346] The fourth largest ethnic group are the Assyrians (3–4%),[5] followed by the Circassians (1.5%)[5] and the Armenians (1%),[5] most of which are the descendants of refugees who arrived in Syria during the Armenian genocide. Syria holds the 7th largest Armenian population in the world. They are mainly gathered in Aleppo, Qamishli, Damascus and Kesab.
The ethno-religious composition of Syria
There are also smaller ethnic minority groups, such as the Albanians, Bosnians, Georgians, Greeks, Persians, Pashtuns and Russians.[5] However, most of these ethnic minorities have become Arabized to some degree, particularly those who practice the Muslim faith.[5] The largest concentration of the Syrian diaspora outside the Arab world is in Brazil, which has millions of people of Arab and other Near Eastern ancestries.[347] Brazil is the first country in the Americas to offer humanitarian visas to Syrian refugees.[348] The majority of Arab Argentines are from either Lebanese or Syrian background.[349]
Islam is the largest and predominant religion in Syria, comprising 87% of the population. Sunni Muslims make up around 74% of the population[12] and Sunni Arabs account for 59–60% . Most Kurds (8.5%)[353] and most Turkmens (3%)[353] are Sunni, while 3% of Syrians are Shia Muslims (particularly Ismailis, and Twelvers but there are also Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens), 10% are Alawites, 10% are Christians[12] (the majority are Antiochian Greek Orthodox, the rest are Syriac Orthodox, Greek Catholic and other Catholic Rites, Armenian Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, Protestants and other denominations), and 3% Druzes.[12] Druze number around 500,000 and concentrate mainly in the southern area of Jabal al-Druze.[354] According to Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), 94.17% of Syrians are Muslims–79.19% are Sunnis and 14.10% are Shias (including Alawites)–and 3.84% are Syrian are Christians at 2020.[7]
Former President, Assad's family was Alawite, hence Alawites had dominated key government and military positions.[93][355][356] In May 2013, SOHR stated that out of 94,000 killed during the civil war, at least 41,000 were Alawites.[357]
Christians numbering 1.2million, a sizable number of whom are found among Syria's population of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, are divided into several sects. The Greek Orthodox make up 45.7% of the Christian population; the Syriac Orthodox make up 22.4%; the Armenian Orthodox make up 10.9%; the Catholics (including Greek Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Maronite, Chaldean Catholic and Latin) make up 16.2%; Assyrian Church of the East and several smaller Christian denominations account for the remainder. Many Christian monasteries also exist. Many Christian Syrians belong to a high socio-economic class.[358] As per one estimate, the count of Christians affiliated with established denominations in Syria has dropped from approximately 2.5 million before the civil war, to about 500,000 in 2023.[359]
Syria was once home to a substantial population of Jews, with large communities in Damascus, Aleppo, and Qamishii.[360] Due to a combination of persecution in Syria and opportunities elsewhere, the Jews began to emigrate in the second half of the 19th century to Great Britain, the United States, and Israel.[360] The process was completed with the establishment of Israel in 1948.[360] The remaining Jewish population dwindled as a result of the civil war. Today 100 Jews live in Syria.[360] The United States is home to a large Syrian Jewish community, which is still considered as Syrian citizens by the Syrian government.
Education is free and compulsory from ages 6 to 12. Schooling consists of six years of primary education followed by a three-year general or vocational training period and a three-year academic or vocational program. The second three-year period of academic training is required for university admission. Total enrollment at post-secondary schools is over 150,000. The literacy rate of Syrians aged 15 and older is 90.7% for males and 82.2% for females.[361][362]
Parts of this article (those related to this section) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (December 2024)
In 2010, spending on healthcare accounted for 3.4% of the GDP. In 2008, there were 14.9 physicians and 18.5 nurses per 10,000 inhabitants.[369] The life expectancy at birth was 75.7 years in 2010, or 74.2 years for males and 77.3 years for females.[370]
Dabke combines circle dance and line dancing and is widely performed at weddings and other joyous occasions.
Syria is a traditional society with a long cultural history.[371] Importance is placed on family, religion, education, self-discipline and respect. Syrians' taste for the traditional arts is expressed in dances such as the al-Samah, the Dabkeh in all their variations, and the sword dance. Marriage ceremonies and the births of children are occasions for the lively demonstration of folk customs.[372]
Ba'ath Party rule has brought about renewed censorship.[373][374] In this context, the genre of the historical novel, spearheaded by Nabil Sulayman, Fawwaz Haddad, Khyri al-Dhahabi and Nihad Siris, is sometimes used as a means of expressing dissent, critiquing the present through a depiction of the past. Syrian folk narrative, as a subgenre of historical fiction, is imbued with magical realism, and is also used as a means of veiled criticism of the present. Salim Barakat, a Syrian émigré living in Sweden, is one of the leading figures of the genre. Contemporary Syrian literature also encompasses science fiction and futuristic utopiae (Nuhad Sharif, Talib Umran), which may also serve as media of dissent.
Nearly all of Syria's media outlets are state-owned, and the Ba'ath Party controls nearly all newspapers.[376] The authorities operate several intelligence agencies,[377] among them Shu'bat al-Mukhabarat al-'Askariyya, employing many operatives.[378] During the civil war many of Syria's artists, poets, writers and activists have been incarcerated, and some have been killed, including famed cartoonist Akram Raslan.[379]
Syrian cuisine is rich and varied in its ingredients, linked to the regions where a specific dish has originated. Syrian food mostly consists of southern Mediterranean, Greek, and Southwest Asian dishes. Some Syrian dishes also evolved from Turkish and French cooking: dishes like shish kebab, stuffed zucchini/courgette, and yabraʾ (stuffed grape leaves, the word yabraʾ deriving from the Turkish word yaprak, meaning leaf).
Drinks vary, depending on the time of day and the occasion. Arabic coffee is the most well-known hot drink, usually prepared in the morning at breakfast or in the evening. It is usually served for guests or after food. Arak, an alcoholic drink, is a well-known beverage, served mostly on special occasions. Other Syrian beverages include ayran, jallab, white coffee, and a locally manufactured beer called Al Shark.[380]
^The name "Rojava" ("The West") was initially used by the region's PYD-led government, before its usage was dropped in 2016.[216][217][218] Since then, the name is still used by locals and international observers.
^Behnstedt, Peter (2008). "Syria". In Versteegh, Kees; Eid, Mushira; Elgibali, Alaa; Woidich, Manfred; Zaborski, Andrzej (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Vol. 4. Brill Publishers. p. 402. ISBN978-90-04-14476-7.
^ abcdefghKhalifa, Mustafa (2013), "The impossible partition of Syria", Arab Reform Initiative: 3–5, Arabs constitute the major ethnic group in Syria, making up between 80 and 85% of the population. Kurds are the second largest ethnic group in Syria, making up around 10% of the Syrian population and distributed among four regions...with a Yazidi minority that numbers around 40,000... Turkmen are the third-largest ethnic group in Syria, making up around 4–5% of the population. Some estimations indicate that they are the second biggest group, outnumbering Kurds, drawing on the fact that Turkmen are divided into two groups: the rural Turkmen who make up 30% of the Turkmen in Syria and have kept their mother tongue, and the urban Turkmen who have become Arabised and no longer speak their mother language... Assyrians are the fourth-largest ethnic group in Syria. They represent the original and oldest inhabitants of Syria, today making up around 3–4% of the Syrian population... Circassians are the fifth-largest ethnic group in Syria, making up around 1.5% of the population... Armenians are sixth-largest ethnic group in Syria, making up around 1% of the population... There are also a small number of other ethnic groups in Syria, including Greeks, Persians, Albanians, Bosnian, Pashtuns, Russians and Georgians...
^Shoup, John A. (2018), The History of Syria, ABC-CLIO, p. 6, ISBN978-1440858352, Syria has several other ethnic groups, the Kurds... they make up an estimated 9 percent...Turkomen comprise around 4-5 percent of the total population. The rest of the ethnic mix of Syria is made of Assyrians (about 4 percent), Armenians (about 2 percent), and Circassians (about 1 percent).
^First proposed by Theodor Nöldeke in 1881; cf. Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Syria". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
^"Tell Qaramel". pcma.uw.edu.pl. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
^Pettinato, Giovanni. The Archives of Ebla; Gelb, I. J. "Thoughts about Ibla: A Preliminary Evaluation" in Monographic Journals of the Near East, Syro-Mesopotamian Studies 1/1 (May 1977) pp. 3–30.
^Relations between God and Man in the Hurro-Hittite Song of Release, Mary R. Bachvarova, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Jan–Mar SAAD 2005
^"The foreigners of the fourth register, with long hairstyles and calf-length fringed robes, are labeled Chiefs of Retjenu, the ancient name tor the Syrian region. Like the Nubians, they come with animals, in this case horses, an elephant, and a bear; they also offer weapons and vessels most likely filled with precious substance." in Hawass, Zahi A.; Vannini, Sandro (2009). The lost tombs of Thebes: life in paradise. Thames & Hudson. p. 120. ISBN9780500051597.
^Montgomery Watt W. (1956). Muhammad At Medina. Osmania University, Digital Library Of India. Oxford At The Clarendon Press. p. 35. This expedition receives scant notice in the sources, but in some ways it is the most significant so far. As Dumah was some 800 km (500 mi) from Medina there can have been no immediate threat to Muhammad, but it may be, as Caetani suggests, 1 that communications with Syria were being interrupted and supplies to Medina stopped. It is tempting to suppose that was already envisaging something of the expansion which took place after his death.
^ ab"Syria – Ottoman". Library of Congress Country Studies. Archived from the original on 5 November 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2013. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^a b Stanford J. Shaw, "Dynamics of Ottoman Society and administration", in "History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey"
^"Pouring a People into the Desert:The "Definitive Solution" of the Unionists to the Armenian Question", Fuat Dundar, A Question of Genocide, ed. Ronald Grigor Suny, Fatma Muge Gocek and Norman M. Naimark, (Oxford University Press, 2011), 280–281.
^Wieland, Carsten (2021). Syria and the Neutrality Trap. New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN978-0-7556-4138-3.
^Atassi, Karim (2018). "6: The Fourth Republic". Syria, the Strength of an Idea: The Constitutional Architectures of Its Political Regimes. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 252. doi:10.1017/9781316872017. ISBN978-1-107-18360-5.
^P. Miller, H. Rand, Andrew, Dafna (2020). "2: The Syrian Crucible and Future U.S. Options". Re-Engaging the Middle East. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. p. 28. ISBN9780815737629.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^F. A. Schaeffer, Claude (2003). Syria and the Cradle of Civilization: The Findings of Claude F a Schaeffer in Ras Shamra. Trubner & Company. ISBN978-1-84453-129-5.
^Szmolk, Inmaculada (2017). Political Change in the Middle East and North Africa: After the Arab Spring. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 132–133, 414–417. ISBN978-1-4744-1528 6.
^*Khamis, B. Gold, Vaughn, Sahar, Paul, Katherine (2013). "22. Propaganda in Egypt and Syria's "Cyberwars": Contexts, Actors, Tools, and Tactics". In Auerbach, Castronovo, Jonathan, Russ (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Propaganda Studies. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 422. ISBN978-0-19-976441-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Wieland, Carsten (2018). "6: De-neutralizing Aid: All Roads Lead to Damascus". Syria and the Neutrality Trap: The Dilemmas of Delivering Humanitarian Aid Through Violent Regimes. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 68. ISBN978-0-7556-4138-3.
Ahmed, Saladdin (2019). Totalitarian Space and the Destruction of Aura. Albany, New York: Suny Press. pp. 144, 149. ISBN9781438472911.
Hensman, Rohini (2018). "7: The Syrian Uprising". Indefensible: Democracy, Counterrevolution, and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books. ISBN978-1-60846-912-3.
^Wedeen, Lisa (2015). Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. ix–xii, 1–4, 16–18, 30–40. doi:10.7208/9780226345536 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISBN978-0-226-33337-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
^Rubin, Barry (2015). The Middle East. New York: Routledge. pp. 58, 233. ISBN978-0-7656-8094-5.
^Phillips, Christopher (2013). Everyday Arab Identity. New York: Routledge. pp. 49–70. ISBN978-0-415-68488-0.
^ abcd"Syria (05/07)". State.gov. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2008. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^Alianak, Sonia (2007). Middle Eastern Leaders and Islam: A Precarious Equilibrium. Peter Lang. p. 55. ISBN978-0-8204-6924-9.
^Schlager, Weisblatt, Neil, Jayne; A. Faksh, Mahmud (2006). "Syrian Arab Republic". World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties (4th ed.). New York: Facts on File. p. 1303. ISBN0-8160-5953-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Norris, Pippa; Martinez i Coma, Ferran; Grömping, Max (2015). "The Year in Elections, 2014". Election Integrity Project. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2023. The Syrian election ranked as worst among all the contests held during 2014.
^Schmidinger, Thomas (2019). The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds. Translated by Schiffmann, Thomas. Oakland, CA: PM Press, Kairos. p. 12. ISBN978-1-62963-651-1. Afrin was the home to the largest Ezidi minority in Syria.
^*"The international community maintains that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan is null and void and without international legal effect." International Labour Office (2009). The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories (International government publication ed.). International Labour Office. p. 23. ISBN978-92-2-120630-9.. * "...occupied Syrian Golan Heights..." (The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002Archived 4 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine, www.al-bab.com. Retrieved 1 August 2010.)
^Berman, Yaniv; Line, Media (8 October 2006). "Shebaa Farms – nub of conflict". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
^"Syria: Events of 2018". World Report 2019: Rights Trends in Syria. Human Rights Watch. 17 December 2018. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
^Hainoun, A., Omar, H., Almoustafa, S., Seif-Eldin, M. K., & Meslmani, Y. (2014). Future development of Syrian power sector in view of GHG Mitigation Options. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 38, 1045–1055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.090
^Hainoun, A., Seif-Eldin, M. K., & Almoustafa, S. (2006). Analysis of the Syrian long-term energy and electricity demand projection using the end-use methodology. Energy Policy, 34(14), 1958–1970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2004.12.024
^Rosner, K. (2016). (tech.). Water and Electric Power in Iraq and Syria: Conflict and Fragility Implications for the Future. Robert Strauss Center.
^ abcOmar, F. A., Mahmoud, I., Hussian, A., Mohr, L., Abdullah, H. O. and Farzat, A. (2020) The effect of the Syrian crisis on electricity supply and the household life in North-West Syria: a university-based study, Education and Conflict Review, 3, 77–86.
^Eissa, T; Cho, Gi-Hwan (2013). "Internet Anonymity in Syria, Challenges and Solution". IT Convergence and Security 2012. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering. Vol. 215. pp. 177–186. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-5860-5_21. ISBN978-94-007-5859-9.
^World Bank (2001). Syrian Arab Republic Irrigation Sector Report. Rural Development, Water and Environment Group, Middle East and North Africa Region, Report No. 22602-SYR [1]
^"Who are the Turkmen in Syria?". BBC News. BBC. 2015. There are no reliable population figures, but they are estimated to number between about half a million and 3.5 million.
^"Who Are the Turkmens of Syria?". The New York Times. 2015. Q. How many are there? A. No reliable figures are available, and estimates on the number of Turkmens in Syria and nearby countries vary widely, from the hundreds of thousands up to 3 million or more.
^Peyrouse, Sebastien (2015), Turkmenistan: Strategies of Power, Dilemmas of Development, Routledge, p. 62, ISBN978-0-230-11552-1, There are nearly one million [Turkmen] in Syria...
^"The Arabs of Brazil". Saudi Aramco World. September–October 2005. Archived from the original on 26 November 2005. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
^Ministry of Higher Education (23 November 2011). "Public universities". Ministry of Higher Education. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
^"Private universities". Ministry of Higher Education. 23 November 2011. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
level-4 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
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*(tap picture to see difference) Asd3131 (talk) 17:20, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
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Not done for now: There is a discussion thread above. Use it. Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥ 03:26, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
Not done see the discussion above Abo Yemen✉ 07:43, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
Discussion ongoing, see above. Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 23:05, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
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![De facto coat of arms used by the Syrian transitional government[2] of Syria](/wiki/File:Coat_of_arms_of_Syria_(2024%E2%80%93present).svg)
No to this idea.
Yes to this decision. 𝙲𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚜 𝚁𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚗 (talk) 08:34, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
Viceskeeni2 (talk) 20:27, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
Not done: That's not a standard part of the template, and that particular map wouldn't look great at the thumbnail resolution of the infobox. PianoDan (talk) 23:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
25,000,753[10] (57th)
26.6[12]
0.557[13]
Done PianoDan (talk) 21:08, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Skitash (talk) 14:28, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
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