Following World War I, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman Empire province of Syria. The French administered the area as Syria until granting it independence in 1946. The new country lacked political stability and experienced a series of military coups. Syria united with Egypt in February 1958 to form the United Arab Republic. In September 1961, the two entities separated, and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights region to Israel. During the 1990s, Syria and Israel held occasional, albeit unsuccessful, peace talks over its return. In November 1970, Hafiz al-ASAD, a member of the socialist Ba'ath Party and the minority Alawi sect, seized power in a bloodless coup and brought political stability to the country. Following the death of President Hafiz al-ASAD, his son, Bashar al-ASAD, was approved as president by popular referendum in July 2000. Syrian troops - stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in an ostensible peacekeeping role - were withdrawn in April 2005. During the July-August 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah, Syria placed its military forces on alert but did not intervene directly on behalf of its ally Hizballah. In May 2007, Bashar al-ASAD's second term as president was approved by popular referendum.
Influenced by major uprisings that began elsewhere in the region, and compounded by additional social and economic factors, antigovernment protests broke out first in the southern province of Dar'a in March 2011 with protesters calling for the repeal of the restrictive Emergency Law allowing arrests without charge, the legalization of political parties, and the removal of corrupt local officials. Demonstrations and violent unrest spread across Syria with the size and intensity of protests fluctuating. The government responded to unrest with a mix of concessions - including the repeal of the Emergency Law, new laws permitting new political parties, and liberalizing local and national elections - and with military force and detentions. The government's efforts to quell unrest and armed opposition activity led to extended clashes and eventually civil war between government forces, their allies, and oppositionists.
International pressure on the ASAD regime intensified after late 2011, as the Arab League, the EU, Turkey, and the US expanded economic sanctions against the regime and those entities that support it. In December 2012, the Syrian National Coalition, was recognized by more than 130 countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. In September 2015, Russia launched a military intervention on behalf of the ASAD regime, and domestic and foreign government-aligned forces recaptured swaths of territory from opposition forces, and eventually the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, in December 2016, shifting the conflict in the regime’s favor. The regime, with this foreign support, also recaptured opposition strongholds in the Damascus suburbs and the southern province of Dar’a in 2018. The government lacks territorial control over much of the northeastern part of the country, which is dominated by the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF has expanded its territorial hold over much of the northeast since 2014 as it has captured territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Since 2016, Turkey has also conducted three large-scale military operations into Syria, capturing territory along Syria's northern border in the provinces of Aleppo, Ar Raqqah, and Al Hasakah. Political negotiations between the government and opposition delegations at UN-sponsored Geneva conferences since 2014 have failed to produce a resolution of the conflict. Since early 2017, Iran, Russia, and Turkey have held separate political negotiations outside of UN auspices to attempt to reduce violence in Syria. According to an April 2016 UN estimate, the death toll among Syrian Government forces, opposition forces, and civilians was over 400,000, though other estimates placed the number well over 500,000. As of December 2019, approximately 6 million Syrians were internally displaced. Approximately 11.1 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance across the country, and an additional 5.7 million Syrians were registered refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and North Africa. The conflict in Syria remains one of the largest humanitarian crises worldwide.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "35 00 N, 38 00 E" }, "Map references": { "text": "Middle East" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "187,437 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "185,887 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "1,550 sq km" }, "note": "note: includes 1,295 sq km of Israeli-occupied territory
" }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "slightly more than 1.5 times the size of Pennsylvania" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "2,298 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "Iraq 599 km, Israel 80 km, Jordan 341 km, Lebanon 369 km, Turkey 909 km" } }, "Coastline": { "text": "193 km" }, "Maritime claims": { "territorial sea": { "text": "12 nm" }, "contiguous zone": { "text": "24 nm" } }, "Climate": { "text": "mostly desert; hot, dry, sunny summers (June to August) and mild, rainy winters (December to February) along coast; cold weather with snow or sleet periodically in Damascus" }, "Terrain": { "text": "primarily semiarid and desert plateau; narrow coastal plain; mountains in west" }, "Elevation": { "mean elevation": { "text": "514 m" }, "lowest point": { "text": "unnamed location near Lake Tiberias -208 m" }, "highest point": { "text": "Mount Hermon (Jabal a-Shayk) 2,814 m" } }, "Natural resources": { "text": "petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, hydropower" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "75.8% (2011 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 25.4% (2011 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 5.8% (2011 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 44.6% (2011 est.)" }, "forest": { "text": "2.7% (2011 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "21.5% (2011 est.)" } }, "Irrigated land": { "text": "14,280 sq km (2012)" }, "Population distribution": { "text": "significant population density along the Mediterranean coast; larger concentrations found in the major cities of Damascus, Aleppo (the country's largest city), and Hims (Homs); more than half of the population lives in the coastal plain, the province of Halab, and the Euphrates River valley", "note": "note: the ongoing civil war has altered the population distribution
" }, "Natural hazards": { "text": "dust storms, sandstorms
volcanism: Syria's two historically active volcanoes, Es Safa and an unnamed volcano near the Turkish border have not erupted in centuries
" }, "Environment - current issues": { "text": "deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; depletion of water resources; water pollution from raw sewage and petroleum refining wastes; inadequate potable water" }, "Environment - international agreements": { "party to": { "text": "Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands" }, "signed, but not ratified": { "text": "Environmental Modification" } }, "Geography - note": { "text": "the capital of Damascus - located at an oasis fed by the Barada River - is thought to be one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities; there are 42 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights (2017)" } }, "People and Society": { "Population": { "text": "20,384,316 (July 2021 est.)", "note": "note: approximately 22,000 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights (2016)
" }, "Nationality": { "noun": { "text": "Syrian(s)" }, "adjective": { "text": "Syrian" } }, "Ethnic groups": { "text": "Arab ~50%, Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian)" }, "Languages": { "text": "Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French, English" }, "Religions": { "text": "Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%), Christian 10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian), Druze 3%, Jewish (few remaining in Damascus and Aleppo)", "note": "note: the ongoing civil war has altered the population distribution
" }, "Urbanization": { "urban population": { "text": "55.5% of total population (2020)" }, "rate of urbanization": { "text": "1.43% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)" } }, "Major urban areas - population": { "text": "2.392 million DAMASCUS (capital), 1.917 million Aleppo, 1.336 million Hims (Homs), 922,000 Hamah (2020)" }, "Sex ratio": { "at birth": { "text": "1.06 male(s)/female" }, "0-14 years": { "text": "1.05 male(s)/female" }, "15-24 years": { "text": "1 male(s)/female" }, "25-54 years": { "text": "0.97 male(s)/female" }, "55-64 years": { "text": "0.97 male(s)/female" }, "65 years and over": { "text": "0.88 male(s)/female" }, "total population": { "text": "1 male(s)/female (2020 est.)" } }, "Maternal mortality rate": { "text": "31 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)" }, "Infant mortality rate": { "total": { "text": "16.27 deaths/1,000 live births" }, "male": { "text": "17.95 deaths/1,000 live births" }, "female": { "text": "14.48 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)" } }, "Life expectancy at birth": { "total population": { "text": "74.01 years" }, "male": { "text": "72.54 years" }, "female": { "text": "75.57 years (2021 est.)" } }, "Total fertility rate": { "text": "2.85 children born/woman (2021 est.)" }, "Drinking water source": { "improved: urban": { "text": "urban: 99% of population" }, "improved: rural": { "text": "rural: 99.3% of population" }, "improved: total": { "text": "total: 99.4% of population" }, "unimproved: urban": { "text": "urban: 1% of population" }, "unimproved: rural": { "text": "rural: 0.7% of population" }, "unimproved: total": { "text": "total: 0.6% of population (2017 est.)" } }, "Physicians density": { "text": "1.29 physicians/1,000 population (2016)" }, "Hospital bed density": { "text": "1.4 beds/1,000 population (2017)" }, "Sanitation facility access": { "improved: urban": { "text": "urban: 99.6% of population" }, "improved: rural": { "text": "rural: 98.6% of population" }, "improved: total": { "text": "total: 99.1% of population" }, "unimproved: urban": { "text": "urban: 0.4% of population" }, "unimproved: rural": { "text": "rural: 1.4% of population" }, "unimproved: total": { "text": "total: 0.9% of population (2017 est.)" } }, "HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate": { "text": "<.1% (2019)" }, "HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS": { "text": "<1000 (2019)" }, "HIV/AIDS - deaths": { "text": "<100 (2019)" }, "Obesity - adult prevalence rate": { "text": "27.8% (2016)" }, "Children under the age of 5 years underweight": { "text": "5.8% (2009/10)" }, "Education expenditures": { "text": "NA" }, "Literacy": { "definition": { "text": "age 15 and over can read and write" }, "total population": { "text": "86.4%" }, "male": { "text": "91.7%" }, "female": { "text": "81% (2015)" } }, "School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)": { "total": { "text": "9 years" }, "male": { "text": "9 years" }, "female": { "text": "9 years (2013)" } }, "Unemployment, youth ages 15-24": { "total": { "text": "35.8%" }, "male": { "text": "26.6%" }, "female": { "text": "71.1% (2011 est.)" } } }, "Government": { "Country name": { "conventional long form": { "text": "Syrian Arab Republic" }, "conventional short form": { "text": "Syria" }, "local long form": { "text": "Al Jumhuriyah al Arabiyah as Suriyah" }, "local short form": { "text": "Suriyah" }, "former": { "text": "United Arab Republic (with Egypt)" }, "etymology": { "text": "name ultimately derived from the ancient Assyrians who dominated northern Mesopotamia, but whose reach also extended westward to the Levant; over time, the name came to be associated more with the western area" } }, "Government type": { "text": "presidential republic; highly authoritarian regime" }, "Capital": { "name": { "text": "Damascus" }, "geographic coordinates": { "text": "33 30 N, 36 18 E" }, "time difference": { "text": "UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)" }, "daylight saving time": { "text": "+1hr, begins midnight on the last Friday in March; ends at midnight on the last Friday in October" }, "note": "note: Embassy ceased operations and closed on 18 March 2014
" }, "Diplomatic representation from the US": { "chief of mission": { "text": "Ambassador (vacant); note - on 6 February 2012, the US closed its embassy in Damascus; Czechia serves as a protecting power for US interests in Syria" }, "telephone": { "text": "[963] (11) 3391-4444" }, "embassy": { "text": "Abou Roumaneh, 2 Al Mansour Street, Damascus" }, "mailing address": { "text": "P. O. Box 29, Damascus" }, "FAX": { "text": "[963] (11) 3391-3999" } }, "Flag description": { "text": "three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black; two small, green, five-pointed stars in a horizontal line centered in the white band; the band colors derive from the Arab Liberation flag and represent oppression (black), overcome through bloody struggle (red), to be replaced by a bright future (white); identical to the former flag of the United Arab Republic (1958-1961) where the two stars represented the constituent states of Syria and Egypt; the current design dates to 1980", "note": "note: similar to the flag of Yemen, which has a plain white band, Iraq, which has an Arabic inscription centered in the white band, and that of Egypt, which has a gold Eagle of Saladin centered in the white band
" }, "National symbol(s)": { "text": "hawk; national colors: red, white, black, green" }, "National anthem": { "name": { "text": "\"Humat ad-Diyar\" (Guardians of the Homeland)" }, "lyrics/music": { "text": "Khalil Mardam BEY/Mohammad Salim FLAYFEL and Ahmad Salim FLAYFEL" }, "note": "note: adopted 1936, restored 1961; between 1958 and 1961, while Syria was a member of the United Arab Republic with Egypt, the country had a different anthem
" } }, "Economy": { "Economic overview": { "text": "Syria's economy has deeply deteriorated amid the ongoing conflict that began in 2011, declining by more than 70% from 2010 to 2017. The government has struggled to fully address the effects of international sanctions, widespread infrastructure damage, diminished domestic consumption and production, reduced subsidies, and high inflation, which have caused dwindling foreign exchange reserves, rising budget and trade deficits, a decreasing value of the Syrian pound, and falling household purchasing power. In 2017, some economic indicators began to stabilize, including the exchange rate and inflation, but economic activity remains depressed and GDP almost certainly fell.
During 2017, the ongoing conflict and continued unrest and economic decline worsened the humanitarian crisis, necessitating high levels of international assistance, as more than 13 million people remain in need inside Syria, and the number of registered Syrian refugees increased from 4.8 million in 2016 to more than 5.4 million.
Prior to the turmoil, Damascus had begun liberalizing economic policies, including cutting lending interest rates, opening private banks, consolidating multiple exchange rates, raising prices on some subsidized items, and establishing the Damascus Stock Exchange, but the economy remains highly regulated. Long-run economic constraints include foreign trade barriers, declining oil production, high unemployment, rising budget deficits, increasing pressure on water supplies caused by heavy use in agriculture, industrial contaction, water pollution, and widespread infrastructure damage.
" }, "Real GDP growth rate": { "Real GDP growth rate 2014": { "text": "-36.5% (2014 est.)" }, "Real GDP growth rate 2013": { "text": "-30.9% (2013 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are in 2015 dollars
" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices)": { "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2017": { "text": "28.1% (2017 est.)" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2016": { "text": "47.3% (2016 est.)" } }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity)": { "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2015": { "text": "$50.28 billion (2015 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2014": { "text": "$55.8 billion (2014 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2013": { "text": "$61.9 billion (2013 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are in 2015 US dollars
" }, "Gross national saving": { "Gross national saving 2017": { "text": "17% of GDP (2017 est.)" }, "Gross national saving 2016": { "text": "15.3% of GDP (2016 est.)" }, "Gross national saving 2015": { "text": "16.1% of GDP (2015 est.)" } }, "GDP - composition, by sector of origin": { "agriculture": { "text": "20% (2017 est.)" }, "industry": { "text": "19.5% (2017 est.)" }, "services": { "text": "60.8% (2017 est.)" } }, "GDP - composition, by end use": { "household consumption": { "text": "73.1% (2017 est.)" }, "government consumption": { "text": "26% (2017 est.)" }, "investment in fixed capital": { "text": "18.6% (2017 est.)" }, "investment in inventories": { "text": "12.3% (2017 est.)" }, "exports of goods and services": { "text": "16.1% (2017 est.)" }, "imports of goods and services": { "text": "-46.1% (2017 est.)" } }, "Ease of Doing Business Index scores": { "Overall Ease of Doing Business score 2020": { "text": "29.8 (2020)" } }, "Agricultural products": { "text": "wheat, barley, milk, olives, tomatoes, oranges, potatoes, sheep milk, lemons, limes" }, "Industries": { "text": "petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, oil seeds crushing, automobile assembly" }, "Industrial production growth rate": { "text": "4.3% (2017 est.)" }, "Labor force": { "text": "3.767 million (2017 est.)" }, "Labor force - by occupation": { "agriculture": { "text": "17%" }, "industry": { "text": "16%" }, "services": { "text": "67% (2008 est.)" } }, "Unemployment rate": { "Unemployment rate 2017": { "text": "50% (2017 est.)" }, "Unemployment rate 2016": { "text": "50% (2016 est.)" } }, "Population below poverty line": { "text": "82.5% (2014 est.)" }, "Household income or consumption by percentage share": { "lowest 10%": { "text": "NA" }, "highest 10%": { "text": "NA" } }, "Budget": { "revenues": { "text": "1.162 billion (2017 est.)" }, "expenditures": { "text": "3.211 billion (2017 est.)" }, "note": "note: government projections for FY2016
" }, "Taxes and other revenues": { "text": "4.2% (of GDP) (2017 est.)" }, "Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)": { "text": "-8.7% (of GDP) (2017 est.)" }, "Public debt": { "Public debt 2017": { "text": "94.8% of GDP (2017 est.)" }, "Public debt 2016": { "text": "91.3% of GDP (2016 est.)" } }, "Fiscal year": { "text": "calendar year" }, "Current account balance": { "Current account balance 2017": { "text": "-$2.123 billion (2017 est.)" }, "Current account balance 2016": { "text": "-$2.077 billion (2016 est.)" } }, "Exports": { "Exports 2017": { "text": "$1.85 billion (2017 est.)" }, "Exports 2016": { "text": "$1.705 billion (2016 est.)" } }, "Exports - partners": { "text": "Lebanon 31.5%, Iraq 10.3%, Jordan 8.8%, China 7.8%, Turkey 7.5%, Spain 7.3% (2017)" }, "Exports - commodities": { "text": "crude oil, minerals, petroleum products, fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, textiles, clothing, meat and live animals, wheat" }, "Imports": { "Imports 2017": { "text": "$6.279 billion (2017 est.)" }, "Imports 2016": { "text": "$5.496 billion (2016 est.)" } }, "Imports - partners": { "text": "Russia 32.4%, Turkey 16.7%, China 9.5% (2017)" }, "Imports - commodities": { "text": "machinery and transport equipment, electric power machinery, food and livestock, metal and metal products, chemicals and chemical products, plastics, yarn, paper" }, "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold": { "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold 31 December 2017": { "text": "$407.3 million (31 December 2017 est.)" }, "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold 31 December 2016": { "text": "$504.6 million (31 December 2016 est.)" } }, "Debt - external": { "Debt - external 31 December 2017": { "text": "$4.989 billion (31 December 2017 est.)" }, "Debt - external 31 December 2016": { "text": "$5.085 billion (31 December 2016 est.)" } }, "Exchange rates": { "currency": { "text": "Syrian pounds (SYP) per US dollar -" }, "Exchange rates 2017": { "text": "514.6 (2017 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2016": { "text": "459.2 (2016 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2015": { "text": "459.2 (2015 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2014": { "text": "236.41 (2014 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2013": { "text": "153.695 (2013 est.)" } } }, "Energy": { "Electricity access": { "electrification - total population": { "text": "92% (2019)" }, "electrification - urban areas": { "text": "100% (2019)" }, "electrification - rural areas": { "text": "84% (2019)" } }, "Electricity - production": { "text": "17.07 billion kWh (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - consumption": { "text": "14.16 billion kWh (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - exports": { "text": "262 million kWh (2015 est.)" }, "Electricity - imports": { "text": "0 kWh (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - installed generating capacity": { "text": "9.058 million kW (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - from fossil fuels": { "text": "83% of total installed capacity (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - from nuclear fuels": { "text": "0% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)" }, "Electricity - from hydroelectric plants": { "text": "17% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)" }, "Electricity - from other renewable sources": { "text": "0% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)" }, "Crude oil - production": { "text": "25,000 bbl/day (2018 est.)" }, "Crude oil - exports": { "text": "0 bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Crude oil - imports": { "text": "87,660 bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Crude oil - proved reserves": { "text": "2.5 billion bbl (1 January 2018 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - production": { "text": "111,600 bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - consumption": { "text": "134,000 bbl/day (2016 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - exports": { "text": "12,520 bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - imports": { "text": "38,080 bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Natural gas - production": { "text": "3.738 billion cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - consumption": { "text": "3.738 billion cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - exports": { "text": "0 cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - imports": { "text": "0 cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - proved reserves": { "text": "240.7 billion cu m (1 January 2018 est.)" }, "Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy": { "text": "27.51 million Mt (2017 est.)" } }, "Communications": { "Telephones - fixed lines": { "total subscriptions": { "text": "3,097,164" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "16.66 (2019 est.)" } }, "Telephones - mobile cellular": { "total subscriptions": { "text": "21.115 million" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "113.58 (2019 est.)" } }, "Telecommunication systems": { "general assessment": { "text": "the armed insurgency that began in 2011 has led to major disruptions to the network and has caused telephone and Internet outages throughout the country; 2018 saw some stabilizing; telecoms have become decentralized; fairly high mobile penetration of 98%; potential for growth given that subscription numbers are low; remote areas rely on expensive satellite communications; mobile broadband infrastructure is predominantly 3G for about 85% of the population; LTE launched in 2017; Syria has two mobile telephone operators (2020)" }, "domestic": { "text": "the number of fixed-line connections increased markedly prior to the civil war in 2011 and now stands at 17 per 100; mobile-cellular service stands at about 114 per 100 persons (2019)" }, "international": { "text": "country code - 963; landing points for the Aletar, BERYTAR and UGART submarine cable connections to Egypt, Lebanon, and Cyprus; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region); coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey; participant in Medarabtel (2019)" }, "note": "Golan Heights is Israeli-controlled with an almost 1,000-strong UN Disengagement Observer Force patrolling a buffer zone since 1964; lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the boundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are unclear with several sections in dispute; since 2000, Lebanon has claimed Shab'a Farms in the Golan Heights; 2004 Agreement and pending demarcation would settle border dispute with Jordan
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "refugees (country of origin)": { "text": "13,311 (Iraq) (2019); 562,312 (Palestinian Refugees) (2020)" }, "IDPs": { "text": "6.1 million (ongoing civil war since 2011) (2020)" }, "stateless persons": { "text": "160,000 (2019); note - Syria's stateless population consists of Kurds and Palestinians; stateless persons are prevented from voting, owning land, holding certain jobs, receiving food subsidies or public healthcare, enrolling in public schools, or being legally married to Syrian citizens; in 1962, some 120,000 Syrian Kurds were stripped of their Syrian citizenship, rendering them and their descendants stateless; in 2011, the Syrian Government granted citizenship to thousands of Syrian Kurds as a means of appeasement; however, resolving the question of statelessness is not a priority given Syria's ongoing civil war" }, "note": "note: the ongoing civil war has resulted in more than 5.5 million registered Syrian refugees - dispersed in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey - as of November 2020
" }, "Trafficking in persons": { "current situation": { "text": "as conditions continue to deteriorate due to Syria’s civil war, human trafficking has increased; Syrians remaining in the country and those that are refugees abroad are vulnerable to trafficking; Syria is a source and destination country for men, women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Syrian children continue to be forcibly recruited by government forces, pro-regime militias, armed opposition groups, and terrorist organizations to serve as soldiers, human shields, and executioners; ISIL forces Syrian women and girls and Yazidi women and girls taken from Iraq to marry its fighters, where they experience domestic servitude and sexual violence; Syrian refugee women and girls are forced into exploitive marriages or prostitution in neighboring countries, while displaced children are forced into street begging domestically and abroad" }, "tier rating": { "text": "Tier 3 - the government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; in 2014, Syria’s violent conditions enabled human trafficking to flourish; the government made no effort to investigate, prosecute, or convict trafficking offenders or complicit government officials, including those who forcibly recruited child soldiers; authorities did not identify victims and failed to ensure victims, including child soldiers, were protected from arrest, detention, and severe abuse as a result of being trafficked (2015)" } }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "a transit point for opiates, hashish, and cocaine bound for regional and Western markets; weak anti-money-laundering controls and bank privatization may leave it vulnerable to money laundering" } } }