Source: Wikipedia
Flag of Syria
Capital: Damascus 33°30′N 36°18′E
Official language: Arabic
Government: Presidential republic
President: Bashar al-Assad
Prime Minister: Muhammad Naji al-Otari

Independence from France :
- Declared (1) September 19361
- Declared (2) January 1, 1944
- Recognized April 17, 1946

Area :
- Total 185,180 km² (88th) 71,479 sq mi
- Water (%) 0.06

Population :
- July 2005 estimate 19,043,000 (55th)
- Density 103/km² (96th) 267/sq mi

GDP (PPP) 2005 estimate :
- Total $71.74 billion (65th)
- Per capita $5,348 (101st)

HDI (2003): 0.721 (medium) (106th)

Currency: Syrian pound (SYP)

Time zone: EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)

Internet TLD: .sy

Calling code: +963

Syria (Arabic: سوريا or, since 2005, سورية ), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية ), is a country in the Middle East . It borders Lebanon to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. Israel occupies the Golan Heights in the southwest of the country; a dispute with Turkey over the Hatay Province now seems to have subsided. Historically, Syria , or The Levant as the region has sometimes been called in English, has often been taken to include the territories of Lebanon , Israel and the Palestinian Territories , and parts of Jordan , but excluding the Jazira region in the north-east of the modern Syrian state. In this historic sense, the region is also known as Greater Syria or by the Arabic name Bilad al-Sham (بلاد الشام ).