Where Is Syria and What
Is It Known For?

Bosra ancient city, Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is in southwest Asia, has a short coastline on the Mediterranean Sea and stretches inland to a plateau traversed northwest-southeast by the Euphrates river. It borders 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.

The population is mainly Sunni Muslim, with a large Shia and Alawite population, and significant non-Muslim Christian and Druze minorities. Ethnically, some 80% of the population is Arab, and the state is ruled by the Baath Party according to Arab nationalist principles, while approximately 20% belong to the Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrians, Turkmen, and Circassians minorities.

The climate is Mediterranean in coastal regions, hotter and drier inland. Most Syrians live on the coast or in the river valleys. Cotton, cereals and fruit are important products, but the main exports are petroleum and related products, and textiles.