Capital: Damascus
Currency: Syrian Pound (SYP)
Borders: Iraq 605 km, Israel 76 km, Jordan 375 km, Lebanon
375 km, Turkey 822 km
Syria is a country located in the Middle East. It is bordered by
Turkey in the north, Iraq in the east, Jordan and Israel to the
south and by the Mediterranean Sea and Lebanon to the west. The
landmass is 184,050 sq km with a further 1130 sq km of inland water.
The coastline of Syria measures 193 km. The terrain is comprised of
a semi-arid central desert plateau, a narrow coastal strip to the
west, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in the southwest and the Bishri
Mountains in the central north. The highest point of elevation
within Syria is Mount Hermon at a height of 2814m. Syria's water
features include the Euphrates and Khabar Rivers and Lake al-Assad.
The natural resources of Syria are petroleum, phosphates, chrome and
manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt and marble. Syria is a
land of vast, ancient civilization and the various ruined cities
scattered about the country are testament to this. Perhaps the most
frequented of these is Palmyra.
In the aftermath of the Ottoman Empire collapse after WWI, Syria
fell under French administration. But in 1946, Syria declared
independence from France. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria
lost control of the Golan Heights and these remain under Israeli
occupation. The capital and largest city of Syria is Damascus. The
dominant religion is Islam. The languages include Arabic, Kurdish,
Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French and English. The national unit
of currency is the Syrian Pound.
Industry and services make up 73% of Syria's GDP, although
agriculture is also a big contributor. In fact, 40% of the national
workforce is employed within agriculture, producing wheat, barley,
cotton, lentils, chickpeas, olives and sugar beet. The other
industries are petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages,
tobacco and phosphate rock mining. Italy, Germany and France are
Syria's largest import and export partners. The transport network of
Syria consists of 2750 km of railways and 41,451 km of highways, of
which 9575 km are paved.
Syria has a dry desert climate for most of the year and experiences
very hot summers form June to august and rainy winters between
December and February. The hottest recorded temperature in Damascus
was 45°C. The coldest was -6°C.
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