Syria

Syria (Arabic: سوريا) is a country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Lebanon and Israel to the west and southwest. Its capital is Damascus; other major cities include Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Latakia and Deir ez-Zor. The population includes Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians, along with a range of religious communities, among them Sunnis, Alawites, Druze, Ismailis and Christians.

The year 2024 is described as one that altered the country's political structure: on 8 December 2024 the government of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, ending a family rule that had held in Syria since the 1970s. Afterwards, Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the armed group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, was appointed interim president in January 2025, and the armed factions were declared dissolved and folded into state institutions.

Geography and population

Syria has a Mediterranean coastal plain, mountain ranges (Jabal an-Nusayriyah and the Anti-Lebanon), the Hamad desert in the east, and the valley of the Euphrates, its largest source of water. The climate is largely Mediterranean near the coast, while the interior is arid with little rainfall. Agriculture depends on irrigation from the Euphrates and on groundwater; recurring droughts and a decline in wheat cultivation have increased reliance on imported food. The Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967, remain outside the control of Damascus.

The interim political system

On 13 March 2025 a constitutional declaration was signed, setting a five-year transitional period and annulling the 2012 constitution. It establishes a unitary presidential system and refers to individual rights, freedom of belief and expression, and the preservation of the country's territorial unity. An interim government of 23 ministers was formed on 29 March 2025. The People's Assembly is unicameral: two-thirds of its members are chosen through indirect election by district committees, and the remainder are appointed by the president. The first round of voting took place on 5 October 2025, and 119 members were elected; 21 seats were left vacant in Suwayda, Raqqa and Hasakah for security reasons, with by-elections held at various points in 2025 and 2026. Of the members elected, four percent were women.

Security and social tensions

The transition has not been peaceful. In July 2025 fighting broke out in Suwayda (a province with a Druze majority), beginning with an abduction and reprisals between Druze and Bedouin and escalating into wider fighting involving government forces. The UN International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, in a report issued in March 2026, stated that more than 1,700 people were killed and close to 200,000 displaced from their homes, and documented summary executions, torture, sexual violence and the burning of houses — by multiple parties, including government forces. The commission said war crimes may have been committed. Reconciliation efforts in Suwayda, according to the UN in June 2026, had not progressed as expected.

In the northeast, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached an agreement on 10 March 2025 to be integrated into state institutions, but implementation was delayed. After weeks of fighting, a full agreement was reached in January 2026: government forces would enter Hasakah and Qamishli, and three national army divisions would be formed from the SDF. Related measures included granting citizenship to stateless Kurds and recognising Kurdish as a national language. In August 2026 the SDF was declared dissolved and merged into the Syrian armed forces, although questions about command and troop deployment remain open.

Economy, sanctions and reconstruction

US sanctions were eased in stages: general licences (General License 24 and 25) in 2025, an executive order (EO 14312) in June 2025, suspension of the Caesar Act, and finally repeal of the Caesar legislation in December 2025 — which followed al-Sharaa's visit to the White House on 10 November 2025. Analysts said that lifting secondary sanctions reduced the uncertainty that had deterred foreign investment, but was not in itself sufficient for recovery.

The economy remains severely damaged. The World Bank, in an October 2025 report, estimated that reconstruction costs could reach 216 billion dollars, whereas Syria's GDP in 2011 was roughly 67 billion dollars; per capita income fell from about 1,550 dollars (2011) to 670 dollars (2022). The IMF said in August 2026 that recovery was accelerating but that poverty remained widespread, and the World Bank expects poverty to rise somewhat in 2026, with the country heavily dependent on imported food, fuel and goods. On displacement, UNHCR reported that close to 1.3 million refugees returned to the country in 2025, but that at the end of 2025 the number of Syrian refugees abroad still stood at roughly 4.9 million.