Portal:Syria

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Introduction

Syria (Arabic: سوريا‎ Sūriyā), officially known as the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية‎ al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a country in Western Asia, bordering 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. Syria's capital and largest city is Damascus. A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Syrian Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians, Mandeans and Turks. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Isma'ilis, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Yazidis, and Jews. Sunni make up the largest religious group in Syria.

Syria is a unitary republic consisting of 14 governorates and is the only country that politically espouses Ba'athism. It is a member of one international organization other than the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement; it has become suspended from the Arab League on November 2011 and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and self-suspended from the Union for the Mediterranean.

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Selected article

The Ayyubid dynasty (Arabic: الأيوبيون‎ al-ʾAyyūbiyyūn) was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they supplanted them under Saladin, Ayyub's son. In 1174, Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan following the death of Nur al-Din. The Ayyubids spent the next decade launching conquests throughout the region and by 1183, the territories under their control included Egypt, Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and the North African coast up to the borders of modern-day Tunisia. Most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and beyond Jordan River fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders regained control of Palestine's coastline in the 1190s.

After the death of Saladin, his sons contested control over the sultanate, but Saladin's brother al-Adil eventually established himself as Sultan in 1200. In the 1230s, the Ayyubid rulers of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and remained divided until Egyptian Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored Ayyubid unity by taking over most of Syria, excluding Aleppo, by 1247. By then, local Muslim dynasties had driven out the Ayyubids from Yemen, the Hejaz, and parts of Mesopotamia. After repelling a Crusader invasion of the Nile Delta, as-Salih Ayyub's Mamluk generals overthrew al-Mu'azzam Turanshah who succeeded Ayyub as Sultan after his death in 1250. This effectively ended Ayyubid power in Egypt and a number of attempts by the rulers of Syria, led by an-Nasir Yusuf of Aleppo, to recover it failed. In 1260, the Mongols sacked Aleppo and wrested control of what remained of the Ayyubid territories soon after. The Mamluks, who forced out the Mongols after the destruction of the Ayyubid dynasty, maintained the Ayyubid principality of Hama until deposing its last ruler in 1341.

During their relatively short tenure, the Ayyubids ushered in an era of economic prosperity in the lands they ruled and the facilities and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to a resurgence in intellectual activity in the Islamic world. This period was also marked by an Ayyubid process of vigorously strengthening Sunni Muslim dominance in the region by constructing numerous madrasas (schools) in their major cities.

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Did you know...

... that the Tekkiye Mosque (pictured), built by the architect Sinan, has been described as "the finest example in Damascus of Ottoman architecture"?

... that the town of al-Dana in northern Syria is identified with "Adennu", the first Aramaean city to be captured by Assyrian emperor Shalmaneser III?

... that the Azm Palace in Hama, Syria, has been regarded as "one of the loveliest Ottoman residential buildings in Syria"?

... that bone fragments of the Camelus Moreli, a new species of giant camel, were found at the archaeological site of El Kowm in Syria?

... that Murad Pasha Mosque in Damascus, Syria, served as a center for the Naqshbandi Sufi order?

... that "Palestinian archaeology" can refer to a field of archaeological inquiry known as Syro-Palestinian archaeology, and more recently, to archaeological research conducted by Palestinians themselves?

... that in the mid-fourth millennium BC, at the "Eye Temple" at Nagar in northeastern Syria, hundreds of "eye idol" figurines with large watchful eyes were added to the very mortar used to build the temple?

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Selected building

The Citadel of Aleppo is an immense fortification in the centre of the old city of 'Aleppo, northern Syria. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Subsequently occupied by many civilizations including the Greeks, Byzantines, Ayyubids and Mamluks, the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to originate from the Ayyubid period. A great deal of conservation work has taken place over the last seven years by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in collaboration with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities.

The recently discovered Temple of the Ancient Storm God, Hadda, dates use of the hill to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, and it is referred to in Cuniform texts from Ebla and Mari refer to the temple. The prophet Abraham is said to have milked his sheep on the citadel hill. After the decline of the Neo-Hittite state centred in Aleppo, the Assyrians dominated the area (4-8th century BC), followed by the Neo-Babylonians and the Persians (539-333).

see also : Crac des Chevaliers

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Wikinews

October 21: United States judges block third version of President Trump's travel ban

August 14: Mozilla, Creative Commons, Wikimedia Foundation announce Bassel Khartabil Free Culture fellowship following execution of open culture activist

February 26: Syrian peace talks begin in Geneva

January 28: German teenager sentenced to six years for stabbing police officer

January 26: Czech diplomats secure release of Polish 'terrorist' in Syria

December 26: Plane carrying 92 crashes into Black Sea near Sochi

December 15: Evacuation corridor allows rebels and civilians to leave Aleppo

November 6: On the campaign trail in the USA, October 2016

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Selected biography

Shukri al-Quwatli (1891, Damascus, Syria — June 30, 1967, Beirut, Lebanon) (Arabic: شكري القوتلي) was the president of Syria from 1943-1949 and 1955-1958.
Quwatli entered Syrian politics in the 1930s as a member of the National Bloc, a coalition of Arab parties that led the opposition to French rule. As a young man, he had been involved in al-Fatat, an underground opposition group in Ottoman Syria, and been arrested for his activities in 1916. In jail, because of harsh torture, he feared that he would tell the names of his comrades in al-Fatat. To avoid this he slit open his wrist in a suicide attempt but was saved at the last minute by his friend and colleague Dr Ahmad Qadri. He was released when World War I ended to become a civil servant in post-Ottoman era of King Faisal I. After Atassi resigned the presidency in 1939 over objections to continued French intervention in Syria, several years of (WWII-related) instability and direct French and British military ruled followed. The National Bloc remained the dominant expression of Syrian nationalism, and, when elections were again held in 1943, the bloc helped elect Quwatli president. His major preoccupation was to conclude a treaty with France, which had exercised control over Syria for more than two decades. This was accomplished with British help, and by 1946 all foreign troops had evacuated. In 1947 Quwatli enacted an amendment that removed a one-term limit from the constitution, and he was reelected in 1948.

see also : Nizar Qabbani, Hafez al-Assad

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Related portals


Middle East	Asia

Arab world	Syrian civil war

Jordan	Lebanon

Palestine	Iraq

Turkey	Israel

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Selected image

Credit: Bernard Gagnon

Bastion of the Citadel of Aleppo in northern Syria

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Quotes

Philip Hitti : "the scholars consider Syria as the teacher for the human characteristics,"

Andrea Parrout : "each civilized person in the world should admit that he has two home countries: the one he was born in, and Syria."

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WikiProjects

WikiProject
Syria

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Things you can do

Join us in Wikiproject Syria

The main goals of this WikiProject are to:

Improve and maintain Syria-related articles: fact and prose checking, expanding and ensuring currency of information, providing reliable citations and references, maintaining a NPOV, bringing more selected articles up to Featured article or Good article status;

Expand Wikipedia's coverage of Syria-related topics: check for completeness of articles, start new articles, expand entries on neglected subjects;

Maintaining consistency in article organization: maintaining a similar structure, coverage and presentation across articles, maintaining categories and links;

Develop tools and resources for others to use in article production: templates, categories, infoboxes, diagrams, base maps, useful and commonly used references;