The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Syria:
Syria – country in West Asia, that borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. Civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth. Syria is part of the Fertile Crescent, and from approximately 10,000 BCE it was one of the centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. Over the millennia, Syria has been conquered and settled by many different peoples. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Assyrians, Kurds, Turkmens, Circassians, Armenians, Greeks, Arameans (of Maaloula and Jubb'adin), Black people of Yarmouk Basin, Romani, Druze, Alawite, Christians, Shias and Sunnis. The latter make up the majority of the population.
In 2011, Syria was embroiled in civil war in the wake of uprisings (considered an extension of the Arab Spring, the mass movement of revolutions and protests in the Arab world) against Assad and the neo-Ba'athist government. In 2024, the Assad regime was toppled by several opposition militias and organizations. As of 2025, the country is led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and a provisional government, which aims to lead a transitional period of up to five years.
General reference
Geography of Syria
Geography of Syria
: 822 km
: 605 km
: 375 km
: 375 km
: 76 km
* Coastline: Mediterranean Sea 193 km
Environment of Syria
Environment of Syria
Natural geographic features of Syria
Administration of Syria
Administrative divisions of Syria
List of governorates and districts
Municipalities of Syria
Demography of Syria
Demographics of Syria
Government and politics of Syria
Politics of Syria
Branches of the government of Syria
Government of Syria
Executive branch of the government of Syria
Legislative branch of the government of Syria
Judicial branch of the government of Syria
Court system of Syria Judiciary of Syria
Foreign relations of Syria
Foreign relations of Syria
International organization membership
International organization membership of Syria The Syrian Arab Republic is a member of:
Law and order in Syria
Military of Syria
Military of Syria
History of Syria
History of Syria, by period
- Syria during the Stone Age
- Levantine corridor – relatively narrow land route of migrations between the Mediterranean Sea to the northwest and deserts to the southeast that connects Africa into Eurasia. It is believed that early hominids spread from Africa to Asia and Europe via the Horn of Africa and the Levantine corridor (named after the Levant, which includes Syria).
- Cradle of civilization – term referring to locations identified as the sites of the emergence of civilization. In Western European and Middle Eastern cultures, it has frequently been applied to the Ancient Near Eastern Chalcolithic (Ubaid period, Naqada culture), especially in the Fertile Crescent (Levant and Mesopotamia).
- Mesopotamia – area of the TigrisâÂÂEuphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, the northeastern section of Syria and to a lesser extent southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization in the West.
- Natufian culture – Epipaleolithic culture that existed from 13,000 to 9,800 years ago in the Levant. It was unusual in that it was sedentary, or semi-sedentary, before the introduction of agriculture.
- Tell Abu Hureyra – archaeological site located in the Euphrates valley in modern Syria. The remains of the villages within the tell come from over 4,000 years of habitation, spanning the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic periods. The inhabitants of Abu Hureyra started out as hunter-gatherers but gradually transitioned to farming, making them the earliest known farmers in the world.
- Tell Aswad – large prehistoric, Neolithic Tell, about 5 hectares (540,000 sq ft) in size, located around 48 kilometres (30 mi) from Damascus in Syria.
- Tell Ramad – prehistoric, Neolithic tell at the foot of Mount Hermon, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Damascus in Syria. The tell was the site of a small village of 2 hectares (220,000 sq ft), which was first settled in the late eighth millennium BC.
- Halaf culture – prehistoric period that existed between 6,100 - 5,100 BC primarily in the Khabur River, and is considered a continuous development of the Late Neolithic
- Tell Halaf – prehistoric, Neolithic tell in Al-Hasakah, a few kilometers from Ras al-Ayn near the Syria-Turkey border. Considered the type-site of Halaf culture, with the name meaning "made of former city"
- Syria during the Bronze Age
- Canaanites – Semitic-speaking civilization of the Levant, with significant religious importance
- Amorites – Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age peoples from the Levant, establishing several city states such as Andariq, Yamhad, and Andarig
- Eblaites (Ebla city-state) – One of the earliest kingdoms in Syria, its remains now constitute a tell southwest of the city of Aleppo
- Ugarites – Ancient port city in northern Syria, ruling an area roughly equating to the modern Latakia governorate
- Akkadian Empire – First ever empire in the world
- Arameans – Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
- Bronze Age collapse – sudden and culturally disruptive transition in the Aegean Region, Southwestern Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, during which the palace economy characterising the Late Bronze Age was replaced by the isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages. Prior to and during the Bronze Age Collapse, Syria became a battle ground between the empires of the Hittites, Assyrians, Mitanni and Egyptians, and the coastal regions came under attack from the Sea Peoples. From the 13th Century BCE the Arameans came to prominence in Syria, and the region outside of the Phoenician coastal areas eventually became Aramaic speaking.
- Syro-Hittite states – Various Luwian and ancient Aramean regional polities, lasting from the collapse of the Hittite New Kingdom until their conquest by the Assyrian empire
- Phoenicia – City states along the Levantine region, with the core of its culture located in Arwad
- Achaemenid Empire – also known as the Persian Empire, primarily based in what is now modern day Iran
- Seleucid Empire – Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period
- RomanâÂÂSyrian War – also known as the Antiochene War, fought between the Roman Republic and the Seleucid Empire
- Syria (Roman province) – Early Roman province annexed by the Roman Republic, existed until its division into Coele Syria and Phoenice
- Syria Palaestina – renamed Roman province formerly known as Judaea in what is now the region of Palestine
- List of Roman governors of Syria
- Palmyrene Empire
- Palmyra – ancient city in central Syria and prosperous regional center
- Syria in the Middle Ages
- Byzantine Syria – Coele Syria (formerly part of the Roman province of Syria)
- Muslim conquest of the Levant –
- Rashidun Caliphate – First Islamic caliphate, incorporated Syria after the death of Muhammad
- Umayyad Caliphate – Second Islamic caliphate, led by the Umayyad dynasty
- Bilad al-Sham – Islamic Syria, province of the four successive caliphates
- Great Seljuq Empire – Turco-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire lead by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks
- Ayyubid dynasty
- Mongol invasions of Syria – starting in the 1240s, the Mongols made repeated invasions of Syria or attempts thereof. Most failed, but they did have some success in 1260 and 1300, capturing Aleppo and Damascus and destroying the Ayyubid dynasty.
- County of Edessa – 12th century crusader state and centre of intellectual life within the Syriac Orthodox Church
- Principality of Antioch – 12th century crusader state, mostly of Armenian and Greek Orthodox population
- Ilkhanate – Mongol khanate with rule established over Syria in 1255
- Mamluk Sultanate – State that ruled over Syria after the Mongols, before its invasion by the Ottoman Empire
- Early modern period
- Ottoman Empire
- Ottoman Syria
- Timeline of Ottoman Syria history
- Modern history of Syria
- Kingdom of Syria (8 MarchâÂÂ24 July 1920)
- State of Syria (1924âÂÂ1930)
- First Syrian Republic (1930âÂÂ1950)
- Second Syrian Republic (1950âÂÂ1963)
- Ba'athist Syria
- 1963 Syrian coup d'état
- 1966 Syrian coup d'état
- 1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution
- Islamic uprising in Syria
- Hama massacre
- 1999 Latakia protests
- Damascus Spring
- Ain es Saheb airstrike
- Syria Accountability Act
- 2004 Al-Qamishli riots
- Damascus Declaration
- Operation Orchard
- 2008 Abu Kamal raid
- Syrian civil war (15 March 2011 to 8 December 2024)
- Casualties of the Syrian civil war
- Cities and towns during the Syrian civil war
- Foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war
- Human rights violations during the Syrian civil war
- International demonstrations and protests relating to the Syrian civil war
- International reactions to the Syrian civil war
- List of articles related to the Syrian civil war
- List of bombings during the Syrian civil war
- List of bombings during the Syrian civil war
- List of heritage sites damaged during Syrian civil war
- List of journalists killed during the Syrian civil war
- Refugees of the Syrian civil war
- Russia's role in the Syrian civil war
- Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian civil war
- Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon
- Syrian reactions to the Syrian civil war
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂApril 2011)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (MayâÂÂAugust 2011)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (SeptemberâÂÂDecember 2011)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂApril 2012)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (MayâÂÂAugust 2012)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (SeptemberâÂÂDecember 2012)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂApril 2013)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (MayâÂÂDecember 2013)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂJuly 2014)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (AugustâÂÂDecember 2014)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂJuly 2015)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (AugustâÂÂDecember 2015)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂApril 2016)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (MayâÂÂAugust 2016)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (SeptemberâÂÂDecember 2016)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂApril 2017)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (MayâÂÂAugust 2017)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (SeptemberâÂÂDecember 2017)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂApril 2018)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (MayâÂÂAugust 2018)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (SeptemberâÂÂDecember 2018)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂApril 2019)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (MayâÂÂAugust 2019)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (SeptemberâÂÂDecember 2019)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (2020)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (2021)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (2022)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (2023)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (JanuaryâÂÂOctober 2024)
- Timeline of the Syrian civil war (November 2024âÂÂpresent)
- Fall of the Assad regime
- Formation of the Syrian transitional government
- Western Syria clashes (Assad loyalist insurgency)
History of Syria, by region
History of Syria, by subject
Culture of Syria
Culture of Syria
Art in Syria
People of Syria
People of Syria
Religion in Syria
Religion in Syria
Sports in Syria
Sports in Syria
Economy and infrastructure of Syria
Economy of Syria
Education in Syria
Education in Syria
Health in Syria
Health in Syria
See also
Syria
References
External links
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