which are approx. 9% of the population. Most Kurds are concentrated in the foothills of the Taurus, north of Aleppo, and on the El Jazeera plateau, in the northeast. Kurds also formed communities around Jerablus and on the outskirts of Damascus. They speak their native Kurdish and Arabic and adhere, like the Syrian Arabs, to the Sunni trend in Islam. The bulk of the Kurds live in the countryside. Many Kurds lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle.
State structure
Syria is a presidential republic. It is distinguished by a centralized hierarchical system, in which all power is concentrated in the hands of the president of the country and the top leadership of the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (PASV, or Baath). This system was created after the seizure of power by military means by the Ba'athists.
Story
The modern Syrian state appeared after the First World War, when France received from the League of Nations a mandate to govern Syria and Lebanon, and Great Britain - Palestine and Transjordan. Until that time, the concept of "Syria" included these four countries and small areas in the south of modern Turkey and northwest Iraq. Thus, the history of Syria before the 1990s refers to a much larger territory (the so-called. Greater Syria). The history of the modern state of Syria begins with.
Early stages of history
Very little is known about the ancient, pre-Semitic population of Syria. The first resettlement of Semitic tribes (Amorites) took place at the beginning of the 30th century. BC.
Based on excavations in the Tell Mardiha area, it has been established that ca. 2500 BC Ebla was the capital of the state. The elected head and senate of Ebla ruled over northern Syria, Lebanon and parts of northern Mesopotamia. In the XXIII century. BC. Ebla was conquered by Akkad.
The collapse of the Seljuk state into destinies, their internecine struggle and clashes with the Fatimids facilitated the capture of northwestern Syria by the crusaders and the formation of the Principality of Antioch on its territory. Nur-ad-din, the Turkic ruler of Aleppo, united most of Sakhalin under his rule; he was succeeded in Salah-ad-din, who annexed Sakhalin to his possessions. In after the victory at Hittin (), Salah ad-din ousted the crusaders from a significant part of the Principality of Antioch. From the 2nd half of the XIII century. Syria was under the rule of the Egyptian Mamluks, and was invaded by the Mongols. Devastating epidemics in the middle and 2nd half of the XIV century, foreign invasions, instability of the central government, tax oppression led to the XIV - centuries. to the decline of the economic and cultural life of Syria.
First Muslim period
The wealth, the level of development of crafts and the population of Syrian cities prompted the supporters of Islam to move the center of the Islamic state to Damascus (from Mecca and Medina). The Umayyad state was ruled by the Syrians, both Muslims and Christians, and the Syrian soldiers fought with the troops of the Byzantine emperors. Arabic replaced Greek as the official language. However, individual elements of the Hellenistic heritage have been preserved.
Clashes between Egyptian troops stationed in Syria and Ottoman forces in Anatolia forced the European powers to intervene and uphold the authority of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. British and Ottoman agents pushed the Druze to revolt against the Egyptian army. With the restoration of the Ottoman Sultan's power, Syria came under the Anglo-Ottoman trade convention.
In the last quarter of the XIX century. in exchange for granting loans to the Ottoman Empire, French companies received numerous concessions in Syria. The French invested in the construction of Syrian ports, railways and roads. As material production declined, anti-Christian and anti-European sentiments grew. European interference in the political life of Syria intensified. This contributed to the growing dissatisfaction of the local Arab elite with Ottoman rule. In the years in Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut, societies arose that advocated the independence of Syria from the Ottoman Empire. The number of these societies increased rapidly at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The national consciousness of the Arabs became especially acute with the coming to power of the Young Turks after the July bourgeois revolution in Turkey.
World War I
At the beginning of the 1st World War -18 martial law was declared in Syria. The Turkish military authorities requisitioned food and raw materials for export to Germany and Turkey. During the war, Syrian nationalists launched preparations for an anti-Turkish armed uprising. However, the Turks managed to reveal the plans of the uprising and, through mass repressions, suppress the movement of the Syrian people for the creation of an independent Arab state.
Period of French domination (1919-1943)
In July, French troops, having overcome the armed resistance of the Syrian patriots, occupied Damascus. The French occupiers, in an attempt to liquidate S. as a state, dismembered it into several small "states."
In -27 all of Syria was engulfed in a national liberation uprising. It was brutally suppressed. However, the French government was forced to change the forms of colonial government in Syria. The national liberation movement in Syria forced the French authorities to enter into negotiations with the leaders of the National Bloc party to conclude an agreement based on the recognition of independence. The Franco-Syrian treaty was signed, which recognized the sovereignty of Syria, ruled out the possibility of French interference in the internal affairs of the country, and ensured the unity of Syria.
World War II and Declaration of Independence
In connection with the outbreak of the 2nd World War of 1939-45, martial law was declared in Syria in September. In winter -41 famine began. As a result of a stubborn struggle, the Syrian patriots achieved the restoration of the constitution (it was canceled in). The National Bloc (Kutla Watania) won the parliamentary elections in July.
Nominally, Syria became an independent state when the creation of a national army was announced. The country joined the UN, and also took part in the creation of the League of Arab States. However, full independence was gained only after the final withdrawal of the French and British troops, which ended on April 17. This date has become a national holiday in Syria - Evacuation Day.
Syria after independence
After gaining political independence, strong positions of foreign, mainly French, capital remained in Syria. The aggravation of imperialist contradictions around Syria, the intensified attempts of Great Britain and the United States to draw it into the orbit of their policy, the interference of these states in the internal affairs of the country, the struggle for power between various political groups led to political instability.
On March 8, as a result of another military coup, the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (PASV, or Baath) of Syria came to power.
The first Baathist government (March–February) followed the principles of non-alignment, pan-Arab unity, and the construction of an Arab version of "socialism". The situation changed in February. The founders of the Ba'ath were forced to flee Syria as the coup leaders sentenced them to death. The new regime undertook a series of military adventures on the border with Israel, leading to the June 5 Arab-Israeli War, in which Syria lost the Golan Heights.
On March 12, the Syrian people in a referendum approved a new constitution, according to which the Syrian Arab Republic was declared a socialist people's democratic state.
Syria hosted Active participation in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
10% - according to Wikipedia. And according to the Secretary of the Vatican for Relations with States, Archbishop Giovanni Laiolo (2006) - 1%. Perhaps the latter counts only Roman Catholics.
The concept of "Syria" is a modern concept, it was invented in 1929, and finally fixed only in 1949, after the end of World War II. In this regard, it is very difficult to talk about Syria in antiquity - it's like talking about Russia in antiquity. Indeed, in ancient times it simply did not exist, Russia as a state has legally existed since the 18th century.
On the territory of modern Syria in ancient times there were different formations and states with centers in different places. Chronologically, the uniqueness of this territory is quite obvious: modern Syria and Iraq are the territories where the most ancient civilizations- older than Chinese and Indian. From IV to I millennium BC Syria was part of the civilization of Ancient Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia). This civilization is remarkable in many ways: it was in ancient Mesopotamia that writing was first invented, it was there that remarkable discoveries were made in astronomy, medicine and mathematics. Mesopotamian scholars have long set the tone for these disciplines. In addition, literature was created in Ancient Mesopotamia, wrote the "Song of Gilgamesh" - one of the oldest literary works in the world.
In the I millennium BC. the change of eras begins, the region of Syria (where we must include part of modern Iraq, Lebanon and Israel) becomes part of the late Babylonian, and then the Persian state of the Achaemenids. In the 4th century, these areas were conquered by the famous Alexander the Great - and just at that time a new big take-off of culture began on Syrian territory. As we know, Macedonian in 334 BC. entered Asia Minor, reached Damascus, turned east, reached Palmyra and defeated the Persian king Darius at Gaugamela, reached North India, where he died. On the territory of the Fertile Crescent, the Syrian desert and Mesopotamia, the power of the Seleucids, the Diadochi of Alexander, arises. At this time, the synthesis of Greek and Eastern cultures became characteristic of our region - the Hellenistic East arises. It was then that the Aramaic language became the main language on the territory of the state, and the name "Syria" as the area of distribution of the Aramaic language gradually takes root. Then Syria becomes part of the Roman Empire, and soon, for a short time, part of the Parthian state. From the 3rd to the 7th centuries, Syria becomes divided between two empires - the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) and Persian. All this time the main language of Syria was Aramaic.
At this time, Christian culture arises on the territory of Syria, and it exists on the border of two worlds - Persian and Roman-Hellenistic. Christian culture became a bridge between Rome and Persia. At the same time, Syria received great importance, because it was on the caravan route that connected the Middle East with China. The Great Silk Road passed through Palmyra.
The last period of Syria's rise is associated with the existence on its territory of the Arab Caliphate with its capital in Damascus - this happened in the 7th century. Since 750, the center of the Caliphate moved east - to Baghdad, which was built specifically for this. Baghdad (now the capital of Iraq) becomes the center of science and art, and all this stops only in the XIII century, when the Mongols took Damascus and Baghdad, and the civilization of the Arab Caliphate ceased to exist. An era of decline begins, which continues to this day - with the only difference being that in colonial times (when the French owned the territories), Damascus and the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, became for some time the center of colonial culture.
The decline of Syria began with the decline of the Caliphate in the 12th century, and it worsened with the Mongol conquests. The Mongols were followed by the Turks, who began to crush the Arabs, and the Arabs began to degrade over the course of several centuries. Leadership in Islamic world passed to Mamluk Egypt. The Turks did not allow much to the locals, they kept the Syrian political and cultural life under their control. The vilayet of Syria in Ottoman times was multinational, in addition to the Arabs, Aramaic-speaking Assyrians, Armenians, Persians, and Kurds lived there. It was then that Syria was formed as a unity, and what is now called “Jumhuriyet Surya” is a post-colonial history that lives on with memories of the past.
The process of Islamization of Syria was very complex, and it did not take place in one year. It can be said that it never fully ended, and Syria never became completely Muslim. The local population of Syria in the 7th century, when the Arabs began to seize the country, was mostly Christian - and this part of the population remained so Christian.
As a result of the Arab conquests, the religious landscape in Syria became more diverse. In the Muslim tradition, Syria was often called Sham, although this term corresponds to the wider territory of Ancient Canaan, the French usually call it the Levant. Since the 7th century, the Syrian authorities have been Islamic, and the population has been Islamic and Christian. However, the population of Syria has always been multi-confessional - even during the Roman and Persian empires.
It cannot be said that many Christian Syrians left the country's borders after the Caliphate reigned in it. Mobility in those days was very low, and people moved somewhere with great difficulty, although some Syrians migrated to the Roman Empire. Mass exodus is still a feature of later times. Here in the times Mongol conquests part of Syria moved to Egypt. And in the 7th century, people determined their attitude to the place of residence on the basis of theological concepts, and not empirical knowledge.
It is important to understand that the Islamization of the country did not bring much harm to science and culture. Now Islamization is often compared with some kind of regression, but in those days the Islamic state was quite progressive. The caliphate sometimes offered more effective (compared to Byzantine) methods of administration, social and political forms. Therefore, Islamization in the 7th century was synonymous with "reconstruction". The caliphate is a theocratic state where the caliph ("viceroy of the Prophet Almighty") actively patronized scientists, philosophers, and poets. The population of Islamic states in those days freely moved from one region of the Caliphate to another, from Persian Bukhara to Morocco, for example.
The view that Islamization has directly harmed science and the arts is an opinion rooted in ignorance and Islamophobia. Schools worked in Damascus and Baghdad, Beit al-Hikma was created, the "House of Wisdom" - a special center of sciences and arts. In the 9th-10th centuries, there was a great progress in science and culture in Syria. Meetings and conferences of scientists were held in the "House of Wisdom", there was an extensive library, scientific schools worked. It was there that translations of many of Aristotle's works were made.
Most of the Arab inventions were made in Syrian territory. Arab mathematicians were the first to use a formalized way of writing mathematical procedures. At the same time, Indian numerals were borrowed, which simplified the ways of numerical recording. Arab mathematicians used decimal fractions for the first time, invented equations, discovered general form binomial Newton, calculated stereometric regularities. Astronomers calculated a correction to the angle of the ecliptic, the famous Geber developed the astrolabe, Al-Bitruji calculated the laws of planetary motion. A system for cataloging astronomical bodies was invented, which is still used today. Its most striking expression is the Almagest catalog of celestial bodies, compiled by the Arabs on the basis of Greek and Middle Eastern astronomical knowledge of that time. The engineers of the Arab world came up with the crankshaft, the valve pump, the water clock, the first robotic musicians.
In the Arab world, alchemy arose - and it was the Arabs who began to classify the chemical elements. Great strides were made in philology and linguistics - for example, a doctrine of sounds was created (the theory of vocalism-movement, harakat), a theory of verse was created, dialectology and philological criticism began to develop. In geometry, physics, their discoveries were made. Geography was actively developing - among the Arabs there were many travelers who wrote books based on their travels. Thanks to these books, maps of the world were compiled.
Medicine assumed the continuity of the Middle East in relation to Antiquity. The foundations of medicine were laid by Hippocrates, the hippocratic school passed on knowledge to Galen, and under Galen in Pergamum, a medical tradition arose - Galenism. In Syria, they began to actively translate medical literature into Aramaic. Syria began to reproduce ancient science, but at the same time to make its own contribution - for example, the concept of infection was formulated for the first time, explanations were given for many physiological processes, and naturopathy was systematized. In addition, a classification of diseases arose in the Arab world, the concept of the nervous system was introduced - in ancient Greece it was believed that the nerves are the vessels through which the mysterious pneuma flows into the body.
Aleksey Muravyov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the Middle East Department of the HSE School of Oriental Studies, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Gazeta.ru
, Aleppo Vilayet, Beirut Vilayet)
History of Syria- the history of the territory in which the Syrian Arab Republic is located. About 10 thousand years BC. e. Syria became one of the centers of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, where cattle breeding and agriculture appeared for the first time in the world. In the III millennium BC. e. on the territory of Syria there was a Semitic city-state of Ebla, which was part of the circle of the Sumerian-Akkadian civilization. One of the brightest eras of its early history was the X-VIII centuries BC. e., when, after the conquests of the kings Rizon I and Tab-Rimmon, the city of Damascus became the center of the powerful Aramaic kingdom, which soon became the hegemon of all Syria. In 739 B.C. e. Assyrian troops managed to take Arpad. In 738 B.C. e. they also captured 19 more Syrian cities. Under these conditions, the Syrian rulers forgot about their strife and rallied around the new Damascus king Rhizon II. After the Battle of Issus, Alexander the Great, instead of pursuing Darius, moved into Syria. Parmenion captured the entire convoy of the Persian army in Damascus, and Alexander himself occupied Phoenicia. Thus Syria in 332 BC. e. became part of the Macedonian kingdom.
In 635, Syria was devastated and then conquered by the Arabs, who converted a significant part of the Aramaic population to Islam. In the years 660-750, when Damascus served as the residence of the Caliphs, the welfare of Syria began to rise again, but with the decline of the Damascus Caliphate, the country became poorer. In 1260, the declining Ayyubid state was invaded by the Mongols under the leadership of Hulagu Khan, who captured Aleppo and Damascus, but was stopped by Mamluk forces led by Sultan Qutuz at the battle of Ain Jalut in northern Palestine. Syria was under Egyptian rule until it was conquered in 1517 by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. Under the Ottomans, Syria was divided into 4 provinces headed by governors who were directly subordinate to the Istanbul administration. During the First World War, the Arabs (mostly from the Hejaz) together with the British participated in the liberation of Syria from the Ottomans. When the Arab army led by Faisal ibn Hussein entered Damascus in October 1918, it was greeted as a liberator. In 1920, France received a mandate in San Remo to govern Syria and launched an offensive from the coast to the east with its 60,000-strong army. Soon the French entered Damascus and expelled Faisal with his 8,000 army.
On April 17, 1946, Syria gained full independence from France. In 1958, Syria tried to unite with Egypt and the United Arab Republic was formed. In 1973, Hafez al-Assad became the head of the republic. After the death of Hafez al-Assad, his son, Bashar al-Assad, became president of Syria. In 2011, an uprising broke out in Syria.
prehistoric period
About 10 thousand years BC. e. Syria became one of the centers of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, where cattle breeding and agriculture appeared for the first time in the world. The subsequent Pre-Pottery Neolithic B is characterized by the rectangular houses of the Mureybet culture. During the pre-ceramic Neolithic, local residents used vessels made of stone, gypsum and burnt lime. Finds of obsidian, originating from Anatolia, are evidence of ancient trade relations. Settlement of Tell Halula (en: Tell Halula) IX-VIII millennium BC e. in northern Syria had an area of 8 hectares. A DNA study of the inhabitants of Tell Halul and Tell Ramad (en: Tell Ramad) in southern Syria showed that the first European settlements were founded by the inhabitants of the Middle East.
During the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, the cities of Hamukar and Emar played an important role.
Aram
One of the brightest eras of its early history was the X-VIII centuries BC. e., when, after the conquests of the kings Rizon I and Tab-Rimmon, the city of Damascus became the center of the powerful Aramaic kingdom, which soon became the hegemon of all Syria. This dominating position remained with their descendants. At the beginning of the ninth century BC e. the son of Tab-Rimmon, Ben-Hadad I, fought with the kingdom of Israel and seized part of northern Galilee from the Israelites. But a few decades later, the hegemony of Damascus began to be threatened by the rapidly growing Assyrians. They first collected tribute from the rulers of Syria in 859 BC. e. In order to successfully resist the enemy, the local rulers decided to join forces. The son of Ben-Hadad I, Ben-Hadad II, managed to create a powerful anti-Assyrian alliance, which together with him included the kings of Hamat, Israel, Arvad, Aman and some others. In 854 BC. e. under the walls of the city of Karkara, on the banks of the Orontes River, a fierce battle took place. It was very bloody, but ended to no avail. Some time later, the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III again invaded Syria, laid siege to Damascus, but could not take it.
However, the coalition of Syrian and Palestinian rulers, dangerous for the Assyrians, did not last long. Soon between the Israeli king Ahab and Ben-Hadad II (bibl. Venadad) the war began. At the battle of Rimoth Gilead in 850 BC. e. the Israelites were defeated and Ahab was killed (2 Kings). Then in 843 BC. e. Ben-Hadad II himself also died - one of his close associates, a certain Gazail, taking advantage of the fact that the king was sick, strangled him with a blanket and seized power himself. In 834 BC e. The 120,000th Assyrian army approached Damascus for the second time. The king of Assyria, Shalmaneser III, discovered that the Syrians had taken up positions on Mount Senir, one of the mountain peaks of Lebanon, and dug in there. The Assyrians managed to defeat the Syrian army, and Azail himself was forced to flee to Damascus. The Assyrians surrounded the city and cut down the groves in its vicinity. Shalmaneser III was able to capture a lot of booty, but the city was not taken this time either.
antique period
French Mandate
In 1920, France received a mandate in San Remo to govern Syria and launched an offensive from the coast to the east with its 60,000-strong army. Soon the French entered Damascus and expelled Faisal with his 8,000-strong army. In accordance with the Franco-Turkish treaty on October 20, 1921, the Alexandretta Sanjak was allocated as a special autonomous administrative unit within the French mandate, since, in addition to Arabs and Armenians, a significant number of Turks lived in it. On September 7, 1938, in the north-west of Syria, on the territory of the Alexandretta Sanjak, the State of Hatay was formed, which was annexed by Turkey on June 29, 1939. After the Revolt of 1925-27, France was forced to make concessions in matters of local government, and in 1932 Syria was declared a republic (with the preservation of the French mandate).
Modern Syria
Syria received full independence from France on April 17, 1946, which is celebrated as Evacuation Day. The first president was the head of the colonial administration, Kouatli. The emergence of the state of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent Arab-Israeli war led to an acute political crisis. In 1949, three dictators were replaced in Syria as a result of three military coups: Husni al-Zaim, Sami al-Hinnawi ( English) and Adib ash-Shishakli. In 1958, Syria attempted to unite with Egypt, resulting in the formation of the United Arab Republic.
Syria with its 15 million people after failed attempt unification with Egypt, as a result of a coup in 1963, it came under the rule of the leaders of the Baath Party (Party of the Arab Socialist Renaissance). The nationalist faction with a focus on total socialism, close to the Soviet model, quickly gained the upper hand in the Ba'ath. Soon the socialist emphasis in the economy was softened, but this was followed by a military coup in 1966. The course towards strengthening the role of the public sector in the economy was continued. The main opposition to the Ba'ath was Islamists. In 1976-1982, Islamist-organized mass protests and a terrorist struggle against the Baath, called the Islamic uprising, took place in the country.
The 1969 constitution defined Syria as a democratic, popular, socialist republic with a planned economy, with private property limited by law. On November 16, 1970, President Salah Jadid was overthrown in a military coup, and Hafez al-Assad became President of the Republic in 1971, whose rule was in fact a dictatorship. The obvious Soviet bias of the Syrian leadership was balanced by curtsies towards Islam. The Arab-Israeli wars in and 1973 contributed to an increase in the role of Syria in the overall confrontation.
During the years of Hafez al-Assad, Syria sought to limit Israel's influence in the region. The Syrian Golan Heights came under Israeli control, however, a kind of "compensation" for this loss was the almost complete political control of Syria over Lebanon, established during the civil war in this country. An end to this was put in when the Syrian troops were withdrawn from Lebanon.
After the death of Hafez al-Assad, his son, Bashar al-Assad, became president of Syria.
Bashar al-Assad's policy is more soft and flexible than his father's. In he agreed to withdraw Syrian troops from Lebanon and even agreed to cooperate with UN investigators who suspect Syrian intelligence services in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
According to the article by K. Kapitonov, even before the 2003 Iraq War, bypassing the UN Security Council ban, Syria participated in supplying weapons to the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Russia (2008), the US, the EU, Israel and France accused Assad of providing logistical support to paramilitary groups that are enemies of Israel (Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad), recognized as terrorist organizations in a number of countries around the world.
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Notes
not a fire spotter, but an VKS officer Alexander Parkhomenko.
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- Ancient Ebla (Excavations in Syria) / Comp. and an introduction by Pierre Matthieu. Ed. I. M. Dyakonova. - M.: Progress, 1985. - 368 p.: ill.
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An excerpt characterizing the History of Syria
In addition to the general feeling of alienation from all people, Natasha at that time experienced a special feeling of alienation from the faces of her family. All her own: father, mother, Sonya, were so close to her, familiar, so everyday that all their words, feelings seemed to her an insult to the world in which she lived Lately, and she was not only indifferent, but looked at them with hostility. She heard Dunyasha's words about Pyotr Ilyich, about the misfortune, but did not understand them.“What is their misfortune, what misfortune can there be? They have everything of their own, old, familiar and calm, ”Natasha mentally told herself.
When she entered the hall, her father quickly left the countess's room. His face was wrinkled and wet with tears. He must have run out of that room to let loose the sobs that were choking him. Seeing Natasha, he frantically waved his hands and burst into painfully convulsive sobs that distorted his round, soft face.
“Don’t… Petya… Go, go, she… she… is calling…” And he, sobbing like a child, quickly shuffling with his weakened legs, went up to a chair and almost fell on it, covering his face with his hands.
Suddenly, like an electric current, ran through Natasha's entire being. Something terribly hurt her in the heart. She felt a terrible pain; it seemed to her that something was coming off in her and that she was dying. But following the pain, she felt an instant release from the prohibition of life that lay on her. Seeing her father and hearing her mother's terrible, rude cry from behind the door, she instantly forgot herself and her grief. She ran up to her father, but he, waving his hand helplessly, pointed to her mother's door. Princess Mary, pale, with a trembling lower jaw, came out of the door and took Natasha by the hand, saying something to her. Natasha did not see or hear her. She went through the door with quick steps, stopped for a moment, as if in a struggle with herself, and ran up to her mother.
The countess was lying on an armchair, strangely awkwardly stretching herself, and banging her head against the wall. Sonya and the girls held her hands.
“Natasha, Natasha!” shouted the countess. - Not true, not true ... He is lying ... Natasha! she screamed, pushing away those around her. - Go away, everyone, it's not true! Killed! .. ha ha ha ha! .. not true!
Natasha knelt on an armchair, bent over her mother, embraced her, lifted her up with unexpected force, turned her face towards her, and clung to her.
- Mommy! .. my dear! .. I'm here, my friend. Mom, she whispered to her, not stopping for a second.
She did not let her mother out, tenderly wrestled with her, demanded a pillow, water, unbuttoned and tore her mother's dress.
“My friend, my dear ... mother, darling,” she whispered incessantly, kissing her head, hands, face and feeling how uncontrollably, in streams, tickling her nose and cheeks, her tears flowed.
The Countess squeezed her daughter's hand, closed her eyes, and fell silent for a moment. Suddenly she got up with unusual rapidity, looked around senselessly, and, seeing Natasha, began to squeeze her head with all her might. Then she turned her face, wrinkled with pain, to look at him for a long time.
“Natasha, you love me,” she said in a low, trusting whisper. - Natasha, you will not deceive me? Will you tell me the whole truth?
Natasha looked at her with tear-filled eyes, and in her face there was only a plea for forgiveness and love.
“My friend, mother,” she repeated, straining all the forces of her love to somehow remove from her the excess of grief that crushed her.
And again, in a powerless struggle with reality, the mother, refusing to believe that she could live when her beloved boy, blooming with life, was killed, fled from reality in a world of madness.
Natasha did not remember how that day, night, next day, next night went. She did not sleep and did not leave her mother. Natasha's love, stubborn, patient, not as an explanation, not as a consolation, but as a call to life, every second seemed to embrace the countess from all sides. On the third night, the Countess was quiet for a few minutes, and Natasha closed her eyes, leaning her head on the arm of the chair. The bed creaked. Natasha opened her eyes. The Countess sat on the bed and spoke softly.
- I'm glad you came. Are you tired, do you want some tea? Natasha walked over to her. “You have grown prettier and matured,” the countess continued, taking her daughter by the hand.
“Mommy, what are you talking about!”
- Natasha, he is gone, no more! And, embracing her daughter, for the first time the countess began to cry.
Princess Mary postponed her departure. Sonya and the count tried to replace Natasha, but they could not. They saw that she alone could keep her mother from insane despair. For three weeks Natasha lived hopelessly with her mother, slept on an armchair in her room, gave her water, fed her and talked to her without ceasing - she spoke, because one gentle, caressing voice calmed the countess.
The emotional wound of the mother could not heal. Petya's death tore off half of her life. A month after the news of Petya's death, which found her a fresh and vigorous fifty-year-old woman, she left her room half dead and not taking part in life - an old woman. But the same wound that half killed the Countess, this new wound called Natasha to life.
A spiritual wound resulting from a rupture of the spiritual body, just like a physical wound, however strange it may seem, after a deep wound has healed and seems to have come together, a spiritual wound, like a physical wound, heals only from within by the protruding force of life.
Natasha's wound also healed. She thought her life was over. But suddenly love for her mother showed her that the essence of her life - love - was still alive in her. Love has awakened, and life has awakened.
The last days of Prince Andrei connected Natasha with Princess Mary. A new misfortune brought them even closer. Princess Marya postponed her departure and for the last three weeks, as if she were a sick child, she looked after Natasha. The last weeks spent by Natasha in her mother's room had sapped her physical strength.
Once, in the middle of the day, Princess Mary, noticing that Natasha was trembling in a feverish chill, took her to her and laid her on her bed. Natasha lay down, but when Princess Mary, having lowered the blinds, wanted to go out, Natasha called her to her.
- I don't want to sleep. Marie, sit with me.
- You're tired - try to sleep.
- No no. Why did you take me away? She will ask.
- She's much better. She spoke so well today,” said Princess Marya.
Natasha was lying in bed and in the semi-darkness of the room she examined the face of Princess Marya.
"Does she look like him? thought Natasha. Yes, similar and not similar. But it is special, alien, completely new, unknown. And she loves me. What's on her mind? Everything is good. But how? What does she think? How does she look at me? Yes, she's beautiful."
“Masha,” she said, timidly pulling her hand to her. Masha, don't think I'm stupid. Not? Masha, dove. I love you so much. Let's be really, really friends.
And Natasha, embracing, began to kiss the hands and face of Princess Marya. Princess Mary was ashamed and rejoiced at this expression of Natasha's feelings.
From that day on, that passionate and tender friendship was established between Princess Mary and Natasha, which happens only between women. They kissed incessantly, spoke tender words to each other, and spent most of their time together. If one went out, the other was restless and hurried to join her. Together they felt a greater harmony with each other than separately, each with himself. A feeling stronger than friendship was established between them: it was an exceptional feeling of the possibility of life only in the presence of each other.
Sometimes they were silent for whole hours; sometimes, already lying in their beds, they began to talk and talked until the morning. They talked for the most part about the distant past. Princess Marya talked about her childhood, about her mother, about her father, about her dreams; and Natasha, who previously with calm incomprehension turned away from this life, devotion, humility, from the poetry of Christian self-denial, now, feeling bound by love with Princess Marya, fell in love with Princess Marya’s past and understood the previously incomprehensible side of life to her. She did not think of applying humility and self-sacrifice to her life, because she was used to looking for other joys, but she understood and fell in love with another this previously incomprehensible virtue. For Princess Mary, who listened to stories about Natasha's childhood and early youth, a previously incomprehensible side of life was also revealed, faith in life, in the pleasures of life.
They still never spoke about him in the same way, so as not to violate with words, as it seemed to them, the height of feeling that was in them, and this silence about him made them forget him little by little, not believing it.
Natasha lost weight, turned pale, and physically became so weak that everyone constantly talked about her health, and she was pleased with it. But sometimes not only the fear of death, but the fear of illness, weakness, loss of beauty suddenly came over her, and involuntarily she sometimes carefully examined her bare hand, surprised at its thinness, or looked in the mirror in the morning at her elongated, pitiful, as it seemed to her , face. It seemed to her that it should be so, and at the same time she became frightened and sad.
Once she soon went upstairs and was out of breath. Immediately, involuntarily, she thought up a business for herself below, and from there she ran upstairs again, trying her strength and watching herself.
Another time she called Dunyasha, and her voice trembled. She called to her once more, despite the fact that she heard her footsteps - she called in that chesty voice with which she sang, and listened to him.
She didn’t know this, she wouldn’t have believed it, but under the impenetrable layer of silt that seemed to her that covered her soul, thin, tender young needles of grass were already breaking through, which were supposed to take root and so cover the grief that crushed her with their vital shoots that it would soon be invisible. and not noticeable. The wound healed from within. At the end of January, Princess Marya left for Moscow, and the count insisted that Natasha go with her in order to consult with the doctors.
After the clash at Vyazma, where Kutuzov could not keep his troops from wanting to overturn, cut off, etc., the further movement of the fleeing French and the Russians who fled after them, to Krasnoe, took place without battles. The flight was so fast that the Russian army, which was running after the French, could not keep up with them, that the horses in the cavalry and artillery were becoming more and that the information about the movement of the French was always incorrect.
The people of the Russian army were so exhausted by this continuous movement of forty miles a day that they could not move faster.
To understand the degree of exhaustion of the Russian army, it is only necessary to clearly understand the significance of the fact that, having lost no more than five thousand people wounded and killed during the entire movement from Tarutino, without losing hundreds of people captured, the Russian army, which left Tarutino among one hundred thousand, came to Red among fifty thousand.
The rapid movement of the Russians behind the French had the same destructive effect on the Russian army as the flight of the French. The only difference was that the Russian army moved arbitrarily, without the threat of death that hung over the French army, and that the backward sick of the French remained in the hands of the enemy, the backward Russians remained at home. The main reason for the reduction of Napoleon's army was the speed of movement, and the corresponding reduction of the Russian troops serves as an undoubted proof of this.
All the activities of Kutuzov, as was the case near Tarutin and Vyazma, were aimed only at ensuring that, as far as it was in his power, not to stop this disastrous movement for the French (as Russian generals wanted in St. Petersburg and in the army), but assist him and facilitate the movement of his troops.
But, in addition, from the time of fatigue and the huge loss that appeared in the troops, which occurred from the speed of movement, another reason seemed to Kutuzov to slow down the movement of troops and to wait. The goal of the Russian troops was to follow the French. The path of the French was unknown, and therefore, the closer our troops followed on the heels of the French, the more distances they covered. Only by following at some distance, it was possible to cut the zigzags that the French made along the shortest path. All the skillful maneuvers that the generals proposed were expressed in the movement of troops, in increasing the transitions, and the only reasonable goal was to reduce these transitions. And to this end, throughout the campaign, from Moscow to Vilna, Kutuzov's activities were directed - not by chance, not temporarily, but so consistently that he never betrayed her.
Kutuzov knew not with his mind or science, but with his whole Russian being he knew and felt what every Russian soldier felt, that the French were defeated, that the enemies were fleeing and it was necessary to send them out; but at the same time he felt, along with the soldiers, the whole burden of this campaign, unheard of in speed and season.
But to generals, especially non-Russians, who wanted to distinguish themselves, to surprise someone, to take some duke or king prisoner for some reason - it seemed to these generals now, when every battle was both disgusting and pointless, it seemed to them that now is the right time give battles and defeat someone. Kutuzov only shrugged his shoulders when, one after another, he was presented with projects of maneuvers with those badly shod, without sheepskin coats, half-starved soldiers, who in one month, without battles, melted to half and with whom, under the best conditions of continued flight, it was necessary to go to the border the space is greater than that which has been traversed.
In particular, this desire to distinguish themselves and maneuver, overturn and cut off, manifested itself when the Russian troops ran into the French troops.
So it happened near Krasnoe, where they thought to find one of the three columns of the French and stumbled upon Napoleon himself with sixteen thousand. Despite all the means used by Kutuzov in order to get rid of this disastrous clash and in order to save his troops, for three days at Krasnoy the exhausted people of the Russian army continued to finish off the defeated gatherings of the French.
Toll wrote the disposition: die erste Colonne marschiert [the first column will go there then], etc. And, as always, everything did not go according to the disposition. Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg shot from the mountain past the fleeing crowds of the French and demanded reinforcements, which did not come. The French, running around the Russians at night, scattered, hid in the forests and made their way further as best they could.
Miloradovich, who said that he did not want to know anything about the economic affairs of the detachment, which could never be found when it was needed, "chevalier sans peur et sans reproche" ["a knight without fear and reproach"], as he himself called himself , and a hunter for conversations with the French, sent truce deputies, demanding surrender, and wasted time and did not do what he was ordered to.
“I give you guys this column,” he said, driving up to the troops and pointing to the French cavalrymen. And the cavalry on thin, skinned, barely moving horses, urging them on with spurs and sabers, trotted, after strong tensions, drove up to the donated column, that is, to the crowd of frostbitten, stiff and hungry Frenchmen; and the donated column threw down its weapons and surrendered, which it had long wanted to do.
Near Krasnoye they took twenty-six thousand prisoners, hundreds of cannons, some kind of stick, which they called the marshal's baton, and argued about who distinguished themselves there, and were pleased with this, but very much regretted that they had not taken Napoleon or at least some hero, marshal, and reproached each other for this, and especially Kutuzov.
These people, carried away by their passions, were blind executors of only the saddest law of necessity; but they considered themselves heroes and imagined that what they did was the most worthy and noble deed. They accused Kutuzov and said that from the very beginning of the campaign he prevented them from defeating Napoleon, that he only thought about satisfying his passions and did not want to leave the Linen Factories, because he was calm there; that he stopped the movement near Krasnoe only because, having learned about the presence of Napoleon, he was completely lost; that it can be assumed that he is in a conspiracy with Napoleon, that he is bribed by him, [Wilson's Notes. (Note by L.N. Tolstoy.)], etc., etc.
Not only did contemporaries, carried away by passions, say this, - posterity and history recognized Napoleon as grand, and Kutuzov: foreigners - a cunning, depraved, weak court old man; Russians - something indefinite - some kind of doll, useful only in their Russian name ...
In the 12th and 13th years, Kutuzov was directly accused of mistakes. The sovereign was dissatisfied with him. And in a story recently written by the highest command, it is said that Kutuzov was a cunning court liar who was afraid of the name of Napoleon and, with his mistakes near Krasnoye and near the Berezina, deprived the Russian troops of glory - complete victory over the French. [History of 1812 by Bogdanovich: characterization of Kutuzov and discussion of the unsatisfactory results of the Krasnensky battles. (Note by L.N. Tolstoy.)]
Such is the fate not of great people, not grand homme, whom the Russian mind does not recognize, but the fate of those rare, always lonely people who, comprehending the will of Providence, subordinate their personal will to it. The hatred and contempt of the crowd punish these people for the enlightenment of higher laws.
For Russian historians - it is strange and terrible to say - Napoleon is the most insignificant tool of history - never and nowhere, even in exile, who did not show human dignity - Napoleon is an object of admiration and delight; he grand. Kutuzov, the man who, from the beginning to the end of his activity in 1812, from Borodin to Vilna, never betraying himself with a single action, not a word, is an extraordinary example of self-denial and awareness in the present of the future meaning of an event, - Kutuzov seems to them something indefinite and pathetic, and, speaking of Kutuzov and the 12th year, they always seem to be a little ashamed.
Meanwhile, it is difficult to imagine a historical person whose activity would be so invariably and constantly directed towards the same goal. It is difficult to imagine a goal more worthy and more in line with the will of the whole people. It is even more difficult to find another example in history where the goal set by a historical person would be so completely achieved as the goal to which Kutuzov's entire activity was directed in 1812.
Kutuzov never talked about the forty centuries that look from the pyramids, about the sacrifices that he brings to the fatherland, about what he intends to do or has done: he did not say anything at all about himself, did not play any role, he always seemed the most simple and ordinary man and said the most simple and ordinary things. He wrote letters to his daughters and m me Stael, read novels, loved the company of beautiful women, joked with generals, officers and soldiers, and never contradicted those people who wanted to prove something to him. When Count Rostopchin on the Yauzsky Bridge galloped up to Kutuzov with personal reproaches about who was to blame for the death of Moscow, and said: “How did you promise not to leave Moscow without giving a battle?” - Kutuzov answered: "I will not leave Moscow without a fight," despite the fact that Moscow had already been abandoned. When Arakcheev, who came to him from the sovereign, said that Yermolov should be appointed head of artillery, Kutuzov answered: “Yes, I just said that myself,” although he said something completely different in a minute. What did it matter to him, who alone then understood the whole enormous meaning of the event, among the stupid crowd that surrounded him, what did he care about whether Count Rostopchin would attribute the disaster of the capital to himself or to him? Even less could he be interested in who would be appointed chief of artillery.
Not only in these cases, but incessantly this an old man having reached the experience of life to the conviction that the thoughts and words that serve as their expression are not the essence of people's engines, he spoke words that were completely meaningless - the first that came to his mind.
But this same man, who so neglected his words, never once in all his activity said a single word that would not be in accordance with the sole goal towards which he was going during the whole war. Obviously, involuntarily, with a heavy certainty that they would not understand him, he repeatedly expressed his opinion in the most diverse circumstances. Starting from the battle of Borodino, from which his discord with those around him began, he alone said that the battle of Borodino was a victory, and he repeated this verbally, and in reports, and reports until his death. He alone said that the loss of Moscow is not the loss of Russia. In response to Loriston's proposal for peace, he replied that there could be no peace, because such was the will of the people; he alone, during the retreat of the French, said that all our maneuvers were not needed, that everything would become better of itself than we wished, that the enemy should be given a golden bridge, that neither Tarutino, nor Vyazemsky, nor Krasnensky battles were needed, what with what someday you need to come to the border, that for ten Frenchmen he will not give up one Russian.
And he is alone, this court man, as he is portrayed to us, a man who lies to Arakcheev in order to please the sovereign - he alone, this court man, in Vilna, thus deserving the sovereign's disfavor, says that further war abroad is harmful and useless.
But words alone would not prove that he then understood the significance of the event. His actions - all without the slightest retreat, all were directed towards the same goal, expressed in three actions: 1) to strain all their forces to clash with the French, 2) to defeat them and 3) to expel them from Russia, facilitating, as far as possible, disasters of the people and troops.
He, that procrastinator Kutuzov, whose motto is patience and time, the enemy of decisive action, he gives the battle of Borodino, dressing the preparations for it in unparalleled solemnity. He, that Kutuzov, who in the battle of Austerlitz, before it began, says that it will be lost, in Borodino, despite the assurances of the generals that the battle is lost, despite the unheard-of example in history that after the battle won, the army must retreat , he alone, in opposition to everyone, claims until his death that the battle of Borodino is a victory. He alone during the entire retreat insists on not giving battles, which are now useless, not starting new war and do not cross the borders of Russia.
Now it is easy to understand the meaning of an event, unless we apply to the activity of masses of goals that were in the head of a dozen people, since the whole event with its consequences lies before us.
But how then could this old man, alone, contrary to the opinion of all, guess, so correctly guessed then the meaning of the popular meaning of the event, that he never betrayed him in all his activity?
The source of this extraordinary power of insight into the meaning of occurring phenomena lay in that popular feeling, which he carried within himself in all its purity and strength.
Only the recognition of this feeling in him made the people, in such strange ways, from an old man who was in disfavor, elect him, against the will of the king, as representatives people's war. And only this feeling put him on that highest human height from which he, the commander-in-chief, directed all his forces not to kill and exterminate people, but to save and pity them.
This simple, modest and therefore truly majestic figure could not fit into that deceitful form of a European hero, supposedly controlling people, which history invented.
For a lackey there can be no great person, because the lackey has his own idea of greatness.
November 5 was the first day of the so-called Krasnensky battle. Before evening, when, after many disputes and mistakes of the generals, who went to the wrong place; after dispatches of adjutants with counter-orders, when it had already become clear that the enemy was fleeing everywhere and that there could not be and would not be a battle, Kutuzov left Krasnoye and went to Dobroe, where the main apartment had been transferred that day.
Translation for – plagioclase
Britain provided the Arabs with military assistance, promising full independence at the end of hostilities. On May 6, 1916, dozens of national Syrian leaders were hanged by the Turkish authorities in Damascus and Beirut.
In Lebanon and Syria, this day is still remembered as the "Day of the Martyrs". The Arab armies, led by the sheriff of Mecca, Hussein, soon achieved victory over the Turks, and in early 1918, the Arab-British forces occupied Damascus, ending four centuries of Turkish occupation.
Later in 1918, King Faisal I, the son of Sheriff Hussein, declared Syria an independent kingdom. However, France and Britain had their own plans. In the Sykes-Picot agreement, they divided the Middle East into French and British "spheres of influence". Syria ended up in French. In early 1920, French troops landed on the Syrian coast and, after several battles with poorly equipped Syrian units, took control of the country. In 1923, the League of Nations officially recognized the French mandate over Syria.
The Syrians decided to resist the new invaders. In 1925 they raised an uprising against French rule. Several clashes occurred in the province of Jabal al-Arab and in Damascus. As a result of the French air raids that followed as a response to the support of the rebels, the capital suffered significant damage. In 1936, France nevertheless granted Syria partial independence by signing an agreement in Paris, while the French army remained on Syrian territory and continued to exert political influence.
During the Second World War, part of the occupying troops supported the Vichy government, which entered into an alliance with Germany, while the other sided with Britain. In 1941, the British Army and its French allies occupied the country, promising full independence to Syria after the war.
However, the French again broke their word. The Syrians rebelled again, and on May 29, 1945, French troops attacked the Syrian parliament building in Damascus, causing even more outrage and new demonstrations. The UN Security Council, having considered the issue, passed a resolution demanding the complete withdrawal of French troops from Syria. The French were forced to submit - the last French soldier left the territory of Syria on April 17, 1946. This day has become a national Syrian holiday.
The first years of independence were marked by political instability. In 1948, the Syrian army was sent to Palestine, together with the armies of other Arab states, to resist the newly formed Israel. The Arabs were defeated and Israel occupied 78 percent of the area of historical Palestine. In July 1949, Syria became the last Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel. However, this was only the beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In 1949, the Syrian national government was overthrown in a military coup led by Hussni al-Zaim. Later that year, Al-Zaim himself was dropped by another military man, Sami Al-Hinnawi. A few months later, Hinnawi was overthrown by Colonel Adeeb Al-Sheshekli. Seshekli ruled the country until 1954, when the growth of public discontent forced him to give up power and leave the country.
Syria was again headed by a national government that had to face external challenges. In the mid-1950s, against the background of the strengthening of the Soviet-Syrian friendship, relations between Syria and the West deteriorated markedly. In 1957, Turkey, a staunch US ally and NATO member, concentrated its troops on the Syrian borders, threatening Syria with a military invasion.
The threat from the West was also one of the reasons for the unification of Syria and Egypt into the United Arab Republic under the leadership of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in February 1958. Nasser agreed to unification on the condition that all Syrian political parties be dissolved. This was one of the many reasons that led to the collapse of the United Arab Republic on September 28, 1961 as a result of a bloodless military coup in Damascus.
On March 8, 1963, as a result of a coup, called the March Revolution, the Arab Socialist Party - Baath - took power in Syria. The Ba'ath supporters dissolved parliament and introduced a one-party regime, which also did not achieve stability due to contradictions within the Baath itself. In February 1966, the right wing of the Ba'ath gained leadership of the party by proclaiming the radical Salah Jadid as national leader.
In the spring of 1967, serious clashes took place on the border of Syria and Israel. In April, Israeli officials openly threatened Syria with a military invasion. These threats, along with other important events, led to Israel's Six Day War with neighboring Arab countries. On June 5, 1967, Israel launched an attack on the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, as well as on the west bank of the Jordan River. Then, on June 10, Israeli formations attacked the Golan Heights, which belonged to Syria. As a result of two days of fighting
Syria has lost a strategic region, including the most important city - Quneitra. On June 11, at the request of the UN, the warring parties ceased hostilities. Later in 1967, the UN Security Council adopted the famous Resolution 242, demanding the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied territories occupied during the Six Day War in exchange for peace negotiations and Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist.
On November 16, 1970, Hafez al-Assad, who served as Minister of Defense, led the Correction Movement, which brought stability and security to Syria after a long turbulent period. Assad, elected president in 1971 by an overwhelming majority, began to prepare his country to fight for the lost territories. He united the major political forces of the country in the Progressive National Front and revived the People's Council (parliament).
The Syrians did not waste time. On October 6, 1973, Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israeli troops in the Sinai and the Golan Heights. In a few days, the Syrian troops managed to almost completely liberate the occupied territories, however, thanks to the American " air bridge”, the Israelis managed to recapture the positions. Syria soon found itself alone against the US and Israel. Given the cessation of hostilities on the Egyptian front, the Syrians have agreed to UN peace initiatives. The Security Council issued a new resolution - 338, demanding from Israel the withdrawal of troops from Arab territories, as well as the holding of peace negotiations in order to achieve calm in the Middle East.
For obvious reasons, the Syrians were not happy with this outcome. In early 1974 they began a war of attrition with Israeli forces in the Golan Heights. The stubbornness and moral superiority of the Arabs forced the US to settle relations between Syria and Israel. Through the mediation of the US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, an agreement was reached on the cessation of hostilities between the Syrian and Israeli troops on the Golan Heights.
In accordance with the agreements reached, Syria regained control over part of the territories of the Golan Heights, including the large city of Quneitra. President Assad raised the Syrian flag over the liberated lands on June 26, 1974, but the Syrians were unpleasantly surprised to find that Quneitra and many other settlements in the Golan Heights had been deliberately destroyed by the Israelis. The city was never rebuilt. In order to prevent violation of the truce, UN forces were deployed between the positions of the Syrian and Israeli armies.
In 1975, a civil war broke out in Lebanon. In 1976, at the request of the Lebanese government, Syrian troops entered Lebanon. In 1982, Lebanese troops resisted an Israeli military invasion with full-scale combat operations on the ground and in the air. In 1990, Syria and its Lebanese allies ended a 15-year civil war, and Syrian troops remained in Lebanon to maintain peace and security.
In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat signed a separate peace agreement with Israel, dealing a severe blow to Arab unity. Syria was among other Arab countries that condemned Sadat's decision. According to Assad, in order to achieve peace, the Israelis needed only to return the territories occupied in 1967.
In 1980 Iraq started a war against Iran. Earlier in 1979, Islamic revolutionaries in Iran broke their alliance with the West and declared their support for Palestine. Syria condemned this war as untimely and misdirected. Few Arab countries shared the Syrian position. In August 1990, two years after the end of a fruitless and bloody war against Iran, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, a small Arab country in the Persian Gulf, which caused a wave of condemnation around the world.
Syria joined the US-led international coalition to protect Saudi Arabia and liberate Kuwait. The Gulf War that followed these events ended in the defeat of Iraq and the imposition of harsh international sanctions on it. Another major Arab state was effectively knocked out of the conflict with Israel.
After the Gulf War, Syria, at the invitation of the United States, took part in an international conference on the Middle East. A conference held in Madrid in November 1991 marked the beginning of bilateral Arab-Israeli peace talks. The basis for the negotiations was a UN resolution demanding Israel's renunciation of the territories occupied in 1967, according to the so-called "territories for peace" formula. However, for many years these negotiations were frozen due to Israel's refusal to part with any Arab territories. The Arab position was further weakened when the Palestinians and Jordanians signed a separate peace with Israel in 1993 and 1994.
Syria and Lebanon, however, vowed to sign peace agreements only together, or not to sign them at all. Syria continued to support Lebanese resistance fighters, led by Hezbollah, against occupying Israeli forces in South Lebanon. In May 2000, Hezbollah managed to liberate southern Lebanon from 22 years of Israeli presence.
Syrian-Israeli peace talks stalled in 1996 when Israel refused to discuss the complete liberation of the Golan Heights. In late 1999, Israel expressed its desire to resume negotiations. They continued in the United States with the participation of Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sahar and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Negotiations stalled again in 2000 when Barak tried to exclude the eastern shore of Lake Tiberis from the treaty. Syria has made it clear that it will not give up a single inch of its land.
On June 10, 2000, President Assad died of a heart attack. On July 10, his son, Bashar al-Assad, was elected President of Syria.
Syrian Arab Republic(Arab. الجمهورية العربية السورية; al-Jumhuriya al-Arabiya al-Suriyya) is a state in the Middle East, bordering Lebanon and Israel in the southwest, Jordan in the south, Iraq in the east and Turkey. It is washed by the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
The population of Syria is 20.2 million people (as of 2009). More than half of Syrians are Sunnis, but there are significant communities of Twelver Shiites, Nizari Ismailis and Alawites (16%), different denominations of Christianity (10%) and Druze in the country. Official language- Arabic. Since 1963, the republic has been under the control of the Baath Party. The modern statehood of Syria is a little over 60 years old, but civilization originated here as early as the fourth millennium BC. The capital is Damascus, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. According to Baedeker, Damascus is the oldest capital in the world today.
Story
Ancient Syria
The history of Syrian civilization dates back at least to the fourth millennium BC. Archaeologists have proved that Syria was the cradle of most of the ancient civilizations of the world. Already in 2400-2500 BC. e. the huge Semitic empire with its center in Ebla stretched from the Red Sea to Transcaucasia. The language of Ebla is considered the oldest in the family of Semitic languages. In the library of Ebla, discovered in 1975, more than 17,000 clay tablets dedicated to industry, agriculture and art were found. Among the leading crafts of Ebla are the processing of wood, ivory, and pearls. In Syria, these industries are still flourishing. Other famous cities of the era include Mari, Ugarit and Dura-Europos.
Syria in its history fell under the dominion of the Egyptians, Canaanites, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Armenians, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, Arabs and Crusaders, before eventually falling under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Syria occupies an important place in the history of Christianity - according to the Bible, Paul adopted the Christian faith in Antioch, where the first church was founded.
Islamic era
Islam gained a foothold in Syria in 636 when Damascus became the capital of the Arab Caliphate under the Umayyads. At this time, the Caliphate was already a powerful state, stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to Central Asia. Damascus became the cultural and economic center of the entire Arab world, already in the VIII century being one of the largest cities in the world. In 750, the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty, after which the capital of the Caliphate moved to Baghdad.
In the middle of the XIII century, Damascus became the provincial center of the Mamluk Empire. In 1400, Syria was attacked by the Tatar-Mongols. Tamerlane defeated the Mamluk detachments, destroyed Damascus and took all his wealth to Samarkand. In 1517, Syria fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for several centuries.
French Mandate
Shortly after the defeat in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire collapsed. In 1920, the Syrian Arab Kingdom was founded with its center in Damascus. Faisal of the Hashemite dynasty, who later became the king of Iraq, was declared king. But the independence of Syria did not last long. A few months later, the French army occupied Syria, defeating the Syrian troops on July 23 at the Battle of the Maysalun Pass. In 1922, the League of Nations decided to divide the former Syrian dominion of Turkey between Britain and France. Great Britain received Jordan and Palestine, and France - the modern territory of Syria and Lebanon (the so-called "League of Nations mandate").
In 1936, a treaty was signed between Syria and France providing for the independence of Syria, but in 1939 France refused to ratify it. France itself was occupied in 1940 German troops, and Syria came under the control of the Vichy Regime (Governor - General Dentz). Nazi Germany, having provoked a rebellion by Prime Minister Geilani in British Iraq, sent units of its air force to Syria. In June-July 1941, with the support of British troops, the Free French units (later renamed Fighting France), led by Generals De Gaulle and Catru, entered Syria during a bloody conflict with Dentz's troops. General De Gaulle in his memoirs directly pointed out that the events in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon were directly related to the German plans to invade the USSR (as well as Greece, Yugoslavia and Crete), since they had the task of diverting the armed forces of the allies to secondary theaters of military operations .
On September 27, 1941, France granted independence to Syria, leaving its troops on its territory until the end of World War II. On January 26, 1945, Syria declared war on Germany and Japan. In April 1946, French troops were evacuated from Syria.
recent history
Shukri al-Quwatli, who fought for the country's independence under the Ottoman Empire, became the president of independent Syria. In 1947, a parliament began to operate in Syria. The main political forces were the pro-presidential National Socialist Party of Syria (currently operating only in Lebanon), the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party and the then underground Communist Party of Syria.
In 1948, the Syrian army took a limited part in the Arab-Israeli war launched by an alliance of Arab states.
On March 15, 1956, a collective security treaty was concluded between Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia against possible Israeli aggression.
United Arab Republic
On February 22, 1958, in the wake of the popularity of the pan-Arab movement, Syria and Egypt united into one state - the United Arab Republic with its center in Cairo. Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser became the president of the new state, but the Syrians also held many important posts. However, Nasser soon dissolved all Syrian political parties. In Syria, large-scale nationalization of agriculture began, and then industry and the banking sector. On September 28, 1961, a coup d'état took place in Damascus under the leadership of a group of officers, Syria again declared independence. Nasser decided not to resist the separatists, so the UAR lasted only 3 and a half years.
Syrian Arab Republic
After Syria left the confederation, the country was headed by liberal Nazim Al-Qudsi. He returned many nationalized enterprises to their former owners. On March 28, 1962, a coup again took place in the country under the leadership of the same group of army officers. Al-Qudsi and his prime minister were arrested. After 5 days, supporters of the former regime overthrew the interim government, and Al-Qudsi again became the president of the country.
On March 8, 1963, a military coup again took place in Syria, as a result of which the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (PASV), sometimes called the Baath (ar. "revival"), came to power. In 1964 a new constitution was adopted, which fixed the leading role of the PASV. The country was headed by Amin Hafez, who launched radical socialist reforms. In particular, the nationalization of the main sectors of the economy was again carried out. On February 23, 1966, Syria was shaken by the fifth coup in 4 years, led by Salah Jedid and Hafez al-Assad. Amin Hafez was overthrown, but the PASV remained in power, and the socialist path of Syria's development remained largely unchanged. In November 1970, as a result of the "correctional movement" in the PASP, which was headed by H. al-Assad, the Saleh Jadid group was removed from power. Thus, Syria became the main ally of the Soviet Union in the Middle East. The USSR provided Syria with assistance in modernizing the economy and the armed forces.
In 1967, during the Six Day War, the Golan Heights were occupied by Israel. In 1973 in the War doomsday Syria unsuccessfully tried to reclaim them. By decision of the UN Security Council, at the end of the 1973 war, a buffer zone was created separating Israel and Syria. At the moment, the Golan Heights are controlled by Israel, but Syria is demanding their return.
In 1976, at the request of the Lebanese government, Syrian troops entered that country to stop civil war. The war ended in 1990, when a government was established in Lebanon that maintains friendly relations with Syria. Syrian troops left Lebanon only in 2005 after the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria supported Iran in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988.
After the death of Hafez al-Assad on June 10, 2000, who had led the country for almost 30 years, his son Bashar al-Assad became president.
According to some reports, during the Israeli-Lebanese war in 2006, Syria supplied weapons to Hezbollah. With this, in particular, the still strained relations of Syria with some Western countries are connected.
Etymology
The name Syria comes from the ancient Greek name of the colonies of Assyria, formed from the Semitic word "Sirion". Location on the east coast mediterranean sea south of Cilicia, between Egypt and Mesopotamia, including Commagene, Sophene and Adiabene, Pliny the Elder describes it as "former Assyria." By the time Pliny completed his main work, Natural History, this region was divided by the Roman Empire into several provinces: Judea (later Palestine, modern Israel, the PNA and part of Jordan), Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), Mesopotamia and Hola Syria.
State structure
Syria is a multi-party parliamentary republic. However, all parties in Syria must declare their adherence to the course of the country's socialist transformations. The constitution enshrined the leading role of the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party - PASV (Baath).
The head of state is the president. The president is usually the general secretary of the Ba'ath Party. According to the country's constitution, the presidential candidacy is nominated by the Baath Party, after which it is submitted by parliament to a popular referendum. The President is elected for 7 years, the number of consecutive terms in office is not limited. The President has the right to appoint the cabinet of ministers, to declare military or state of emergency, sign laws, declare amnesties, and amend the constitution. The president determines the country's foreign policy and is supreme commander armed forces. According to the constitution, the president of Syria must be a Muslim, which, however, does not make Islam the state religion. It is also not specified which branch of Islam the president should belong to. Thus, the current head of state, Bashar al-Assad, is an Alawite.
The legislative power in the country is represented by the People's Council (Arabic مجلس الشعب - Majlis ash-Shaab). Deputies of the 250-seat parliament are directly elected for a 4-year term. Following the results of the parliamentary elections in 2003 in People's Council passed 7 games. Led by the Ba'ath, they form the Syrian National Progressive Front (NPF). 83 deputies do not have party affiliation. The People's Council approves the country's budget and is also involved in legislative activities.
The judicial system is a unique combination of Islamic, Ottoman and French traditions. The basis of Syrian legislation is, according to the constitution, Islamic law, although the actual legislation in force is based on the Napoleonic Code. There are three levels of courts: the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court, which is the highest instance. The Constitutional Court is composed of five judges, one of whom is the President of Syria and four others are appointed by the President. Thus, the president has full control over both the executive and legislative and judicial powers.
In addition to this, the system of religious courts deals with family matters and other domestic matters.
Government
The government of Syria is headed by the prime minister. The current Prime Minister is Mohammed Naji al-Otari.
On February 15, 2006, career diplomat Farouk Sharaa (Syrian Foreign Minister since 1984) was sworn in as Vice President of Syria. Farooq Sharaa, a member of the leadership of the ruling Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (Baath), as vice president, will oversee the country's foreign and information policy.
The oath was also taken by new ministers appointed during the February 11 government reshuffle. The Syrian Foreign Ministry was headed by Walid Muallem, who was the Syrian ambassador to the United States for ten years, and since the beginning of 2005 served as deputy foreign minister. The government of Mohammed Naji Otri included 14 more new ministers. In particular, the leader military police Bassam Abdel Majid took over the post of Interior Minister, which remained vacant after the suicide of former Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan in October 2005. Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Abdallah Dardari, Defense Minister Hassan Turkmani, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Hussein, Minister of Economy and Trade retained their posts Amer Lutfi.
Human rights
Since 1963, a state of emergency has been in effect in Syria, in connection with which there are expanded powers of law enforcement agencies. Because of this, the country often faces accusations of violating civil rights. In particular, Amnesty International claims that there are at least 600 political prisoners in Syria.
The country applies the death penalty. It is also known that about 300,000 Kurds are unable to obtain Syrian citizenship.
A number of human rights organizations in their reports regularly characterize Syria as an extremely unfavorable country in terms of human rights. Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and others accuse the Syrian authorities of restricting freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and political repression. On all possible scales, Syria traditionally has the worst score.
Foreign policy
Syria's foreign policy is focused primarily on the settlement of all disputes with Israel, including territorial ones related to the return of the Golan Heights to the jurisdiction of Damascus. Although Syria's relations with other Arab countries were damaged after Assad came out in support of Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, Syrian diplomacy is trying in every possible way to rally the Arab world around the problem of a Middle East settlement.
Syria has a special relationship with Russia. Damascus considers Russia as the main source of investment and the main military-technical partner [source not specified 418 days]. The possibility of locating a Russian naval base in the Mediterranean port of Tartus is being considered. Traditionally, Russia is a supplier of weapons to Syria.
Relations with the West are more strained. Washington, in particular, accuses the Syrian authorities of sponsoring international terrorism, encouraging Iraqi resistance, and arming Hezbollah. The accusations of the American leadership against Assad of violating human rights and dictatorial methods of government are also traditional.
Geography
The area of Syria is 185.2 thousand km². The Ansaria (An-Nusairiya) mountain range divides the country into a humid western part and an arid eastern part. The fertile coastal plain is located in northwestern Syria and stretches for 130 km from north to south along the Mediterranean coast from the Turkish to the Lebanese border. Almost all of the country's agriculture is concentrated here. Most of the Syrian territory is located on an arid plateau dotted with the mountain ranges of Dajabl-ar-Ruwak, Jabal-Abu-Rujmayn and Jabal-Bishri. The average height of the plateau above sea level ranges from 200 to 700 meters. To the north of the mountains is the Hamad desert, to the south is Homs.
In the east, Syria is crossed by the Euphrates. In 1973, a dam was built in the upper reaches of the river, which caused the formation of a reservoir called Asada Lake. In the areas along the Euphrates, agriculture is widespread.
Climate
The climate is generally dry. The average annual rainfall does not exceed 100 mm. The average temperature in January is 7.2°, in July 26.6°.
Administrative division
Syria is divided into 14 provinces (governorate, including governorate), the head of which will be appointed by the Minister of the Interior after the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers. Each province elects a local parliament. The province of Quneitra has been occupied by Israel since 1973, part of the province is under the control of the UN.
golan heights
The territory of the Golan Heights makes up the Syrian province of Quneitra, with its center in the city of the same name. Israeli troops captured the Golan Heights in 1967, and until 1981 the region was under the control of the Israel Defense Forces. In 1974, the UN Emergency Forces were introduced into the region. Directly along the eastern border of the province of Quneitra, a demarcation line was drawn and a demilitarized zone was created. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force is based in the area.
In 1981, the Israeli Knesset passed the "Golan Heights Law", which unilaterally proclaimed Israeli sovereignty over the territory. The annexation was invalidated by the UN Security Council Resolution of 17 December 1981 and condemned by the UN General Assembly in 2008.)
The center of the Israeli Golan was the city of Katzrin. The majority of the non-Jewish population in the Golan are Druze retaining Syrian citizenship (they are granted the right to acquire Israeli citizenship). In Syria, they enjoy certain privileges, in particular, they are guaranteed free higher education.
In 2005, the population of the Golan Heights was approximately 40 thousand people, including 20 thousand Druze, 19 thousand Jews and about 2 thousand Alawites. The largest settlement in the region is the Druze village of Majdal Shams (8800 people). Initially, only UNDOF personnel had the right to move freely between Syria and Israel. But in 1988, the Israeli authorities allowed Druze pilgrims to cross into Syria so that they could visit the temple of Abel, located in the neighboring province of Dara. Also, since 1967, Druze brides who decide to marry a Syrian are allowed to move to the Syrian side, moreover, they already lose their right to return. Syria and Israel are de jure at war, as a peace treaty between these countries has not been signed so far. This phenomenon is described in detail in the film "The Syrian Bride" by Eran Riklis.
In August 2007, for the first time since 1967, Israel began to phase out its military presence in the Golan.
Economy
Advantages: oil export; oil production is growing due to the discovery of new reserves. Growing manufacturing base. Efficient agriculture. Low inflation.
Weaknesses: High defense spending places a heavy burden on the economy. Corruption. The dominance of state inefficient enterprises. Lack of foreign investment. Large population growth. High unemployment (20%). Problems with water supply. Slow reforms.
The economic situation in the country is quite stable. The volume of GDP is 71.7 billion US dollars; GDP growth in 2005 was 2.3%. The inflation rate is 2%. Foreign exchange reserves - 4 billion dollars. External debt (excluding military) - $ 6 billion. The per capita income is about $1,000 per year. The problem of unemployment is still acute, which in 2005 reached 20% of the able-bodied population, including about 30% among young people.
The public sector, which retains the leading role in the economy (70% of the main means of production), accounts for about half of the national income and approximately 75% of the value of industrial output. The state fully controls the sphere of finance, energy, rail and air transport. As part of the course proclaimed by the Syrian leadership towards gradual liberalization and modernization of the economy, a line has been taken to provide public sector enterprises with greater economic independence, in particular, the right to enter the foreign market and attract foreign investment.
The private sector is actively developing. It produces 25% of the value of industrial products, it occupies a dominant position in agriculture (almost 100%), domestic trade (90%), foreign trade (70%), services, vehicles, housing construction.
Industry creates the bulk of the national income. The most developed industries are oil, oil refining, electric power, gas production, phosphate mining, food, textile, chemical (production of fertilizers, plastics), and electrical engineering.
Agriculture (50% of the working population) accounts for about 30% of national income and 17% of export earnings (cotton, livestock products, vegetables and fruits). Only a third of the territory of Syria is suitable for agriculture. Currently, agriculture is experiencing some growth associated with government injections into the agro-industry.
International trade
Export - 13.97 billion dollars (in 2008) - oil, minerals, fruits and vegetables, textiles.
The main buyers are Iraq 30.7%, Germany 9.8%, Lebanon 9.6%, Italy 6.4%, France 5.5%, Egypt 5.4%, Saudi Arabia 5.1%.
Import - 15.97 billion dollars (in 2008) - industrial products, food.
The main suppliers are Saudi Arabia 11.7%, China 8.7%, Russia 7.5%, Italy 5.9%, Egypt 5.8%, UAE 5.7%.
Transport
Car roads
The total length of roads in Syria is 36,377 km. Of them:
Paved - 26,299 km
Without hard surface - 10,078 km
Railways
The total length of railways is 2,750 km. In Syria, two types of gauge are used at once. 2423 km of roads were laid with a standard gauge of 1435 mm, and 327 km with a gauge of 1050 mm. The road with a gauge of 1050 mm was built by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century and connected Damascus with Medina. This thread is currently not active. Railway communication is established with three neighboring states: Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. At present, the construction of the Tartus-Latakia line is underway; it is planned to lay the railways Damascus - Dara and Deir ez-Zor - Abu Kemal.
Air Transport
The number of airports is 104 (1999), of which 24 have concrete runways. 3 have international status. The state-owned airline, Syrianair, operates flights to more than 50 cities.
Pipeline transport
The total length of pipelines is 1,304 km, of which 515 are oil pipelines.
Sea transport
The main ports on the Mediterranean Sea: Tartus, Latakia, Baniyas. In Tartus, there is a logistics base for the Russian Navy. Currently, work is underway to deepen the harbor with a view to the possible redeployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol to Tartus.
Population
The population of Syria is about 22 million people. Most of the population is concentrated along the banks of the Euphrates and on the Mediterranean coast. The total population density is 103 people/km². Syria guarantees free education from 6 to 11 years of age and is compulsory. The 12 years of schooling consist of 6 years of elementary school, 3 years of general education and 3 more years of special training required to enter university. Literacy among Syrians over the age of 15 is 86% for men and 73.6% for women. The average life expectancy is 70 years.
Ethnic composition
Arabs (including approximately 400 thousand Palestinian refugees) make up more than 80% of the population of Syria. The largest national minority - the Kurds, make up 10% of the population. Most Kurds live in the north of the country, many still use the Kurdish language. There are also Kurdish communities in all major cities. 3% of the population of Syria are Assyrians, mostly Christians, also living in the north and northeast of the country. In addition, up to 400 thousand Circassians (Circassians) and about 200 thousand Armenians live in Syria, as well as about 900 thousand Turks live on the border with Turkey in the cities of Aleppo (Haleb), Latakia and in the capital.
Religion
90% of the population of Syria are Muslims, 10% are Christians. Of the Muslims, 75% are Sunnis, the remaining 25% are Alawites and Druze, as well as Shiites, whose number has been constantly increasing since 2003 due to the flow of refugees from Iraq. Among Christians, half are Syrian Orthodox, 18% are Catholics (mainly members of the Syrian Catholic and Melkite Catholic churches). There are significant communities of the Armenian Apostolic and Russian Orthodox churches. About 100-200 Syrian Jews also live in Damascus and Lattakia, the remnants of a 40,000-strong community that almost completely fled to Israel, the United States and the countries of South America as a result of the 1947 pogroms that began after the announcement of the UN plan to partition Palestine.
Languages
The official and most widely spoken language is Arabic. In the northern regions of the country, the Kurdish language is often used. The most widely spoken languages also include Armenian, Adyghe (Circassian) and Turkmen. In some areas there are various dialects of Aramaic. The most popular foreign languages are French and English.
culture
As one of the oldest states in the world, Syria has become the cradle of many civilizations and cultures. In Syria, the Ugaritic cuneiform was born and one of the first forms of writing - Phoenician (XIV century BC). Syrian scientists and artists made a significant contribution to the development of Hellenistic and Roman culture. Among them are Antiochus of Ascalon, Titus Livius and Plutarch.
In modern Syrian society, special attention is paid to the institution of the family and religion, as well as education.
The modern life of Syria is closely intertwined with ancient traditions. So, in the old quarters of Damascus, Aleppo and other Syrian cities, living quarters are preserved, located according to the Greek tradition around one or more courtyards, as a rule, with a fountain in the center, with citrus orchards, vines, and flowers. Outside of major cities, residential areas are often combined into small towns. Buildings in such areas are mostly very old (often hundreds of years old) and are constantly passed down from generation to generation.
The Syrians have made a significant contribution to the development of Arabic literature, especially poetry, and music. Syrian writers of the 19th century, many of whom later immigrated to Egypt, made a decisive contribution to the revival of Arab culture (a kind of "analog" of the Renaissance in Europe - Nahda). The most famous Syrian writers of the 20th century, who made the largest contribution to pan-Arab culture, include Adonis, Ghada al-Samman, Nizar Qabbani and Zakariya Tamer.
Cinema in Syria is not very developed, partly due to the fact that it is entirely in the hands of the state. On average, the Syrian National Film Organization releases 1-2 films a year, which are very often censored. As a rule, banned films receive prizes at international film festivals. Famous directors include Amirali Omar, Osama Mohammed and Abdel Hamid. Many Syrian cinematographers work abroad. Nevertheless, in the 70s, Syrian-made series were popular in the Arab world.
From 2000 to 2008, the number of Internet users in Syria grew from 30,000 to 1 million. However, the authorities block Internet access to sites such as YouTube, Blogspot and Facebook, as well as to sites of Kurdish and Islamist parties.
Education
Prior to Syria's independence, more than 90% of its population was illiterate. In 1950, free and compulsory primary education was introduced. Currently, there are about 10 thousand primary and more than 2.5 thousand secondary schools in Syria; 267 vocational schools (including 77 industrial, 65 trade, 18 agricultural and veterinary, and 107 women's); 4 universities.
Damascus University was founded in 1903. It is the leading university educational institution in the country. The second most important is the university in Aleppo, founded in 1946 as the Faculty of Engineering at Damascus University, but in 1960 it became an independent educational institution. In 1971, Tishrin University (Teshrin) was established in Latakia. The youngest university founded in Homs is Al-Baath University. Moreover, a large number of Syrians receive higher education abroad, mainly in Russia and France.
healthcare
Syria has free public health care. There are about 300 hospitals in the country, and there are about 900 inhabitants per doctor.
Military establishment
The supreme commander of the armed forces is the president of the country. Military service in the Syrian army is carried out by conscription. Young men are drafted into the army for 2 years upon reaching the draft age (18 years) and only on condition that the young man has at least one brother. Otherwise, he is declared the breadwinner of the family and is not subject to conscription.
The total number of armed forces is 320 thousand people (16th in the world). About 14,000 Syrian troops were in Lebanese territory before Syria withdrew its foreign contingent in April 2005 (introduced at the request of the Lebanese leadership). The collapse of the Soviet Union, which was the main military-technical partner of Syria, significantly aggravated the position of the Syrian army. In the 90s, Syria even bought weapons from North Korea. Currently, Russia is again the main supplier of weapons to Syria. The country also receives financial assistance from the Arab states of the Persian Gulf as payment for its participation in the operation against Iraq. In addition to this, Syria is conducting independent research in the field of weapons.
The armed forces include the Ground Forces, Air Force, Navy and Air Defense Forces.
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