Map by BBC News.
- Capital City: Damascus
- Area: 185,180 sq km
- Population: 22.1 million
- Official Language: Arabic
- GDP per capita: $581.56 USD (2024)
- Life Expectancy: 68 years (men); 75 years (women)
Situated from a Mediterranean coastline in the west, to the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the east and the Syrian Desert to the south, Syria borders 4 countries: Türkiye, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. Syria’s central position at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean plays an essential role in sea and land trade, regional culture, and migration.
Its strategic location has also made it a focal point of geopolitical competition through the centuries, attracting the Egyptians, Romans, and Persians in ancient times and Russia, Iran, Türkiye, and the United States in recent decades.
Syria’s long history of trade and cultural exchange make it one of the region’s most ethnically and religiously diverse countries. About 22 million people call Syria home, including Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Druze, and Circassians, as well as Sunni, Shia, and Alawites Muslims, and Christian communities. Arabic is the official language, and Islam is the majority faith.
After the division of the Ottoman Empire by European powers following World War I, Syria was placed under the French Mandate before gaining independence in 1946. However, the following decades were marred by political instability, coups, and shifting power alliances. The Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party seized power in 1963, creating a one-party military-dominated state. Hafez-al-Assad took authoritarian control in 1970 and ruled for 30 years through an enforced stability that suppressed dissent. His son, Bashar al-Assad, succeeded him in 2000, continuing centralized rule under the Ba’ath party.
In 2011, government forces attempted to squash peaceful protests influenced by the wider Arab Spring with violence, including mass arrests and use of live ammunition. What started as calls for peaceful political change soon became militarized through repeated government-sponsored violence. Various militant, political, and social groups began to take control of different regions, resulting in a patchwork of competing powers and confusing jurisdictions. The government, a range of opposition groups, Kurdish-led forces, and extremist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) all held territory at different points. By 2012, Syria was in a full civil war.
Although the official government lost territory in the early years, it later regained much of that land with political and military assistance from allies Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. As the conflict intensified in 2013, ISIS seized territory in northern and eastern Syria via Iraq, bolstered by territorial gains in that country and troops recruited worldwide via social media. The eventual defeat of ISIS by US-backed forces ended one conflict, though many areas of competing control remained, with civilians caught in the crossfire.
The armed conflict caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the bloodiest war of the 21st century. By some accounts, more than 100 people were dying every day as the Assad regime continued to use widespread detention (or “disappearance”), torture, extensive sexual violence, and extrajudicial killings against its citizens. Reports document thousands of cases of women killed, sexually abused, or subjected to torture during the war’s early years. This violence was not limited to government forces, with all factions responsible for the deaths, disappearance and rape of tens of thousands of Syrian citizens.
In 2024, a major shift took place when a coalition led by armed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured Damascus through a rapid offensive, removing the Assad government. This marked the beginning of an uncertain period for Syrians facing competing claims to leadership and the long rebuilding process. HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist leader, presented himself as the head of government and adopted a more civilian-oriented public profile. Outside observers have been allowed into the country for the first time since the start of the war, while human rights organizations call on the new government to abide by international human rights law.
The prolonged conflict, combined with economic collapse and international sanctions, has devastated Syria’s economy and infrastructure. By 2024, over 90% of Syrians were living below the poverty line, with more than 16 million requiring humanitarian aid.
The war has caused one of the largest displacement crises in modern history. Since 2011, more than 12 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes. Around 6.7 million remain internally displaced, while millions live as refugees in neighboring countries such as Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, as well as across Europe. Accounts of lived experiences in refugee camps link a high probability of PTSD with camp conditions as well as the likelihood of having a family member who was tortured; parents in refugee camps report a high need for support of children in the camps, particularly regarding helping their children cope with the trauma of war and displacement.
Canada continues to provide support to people affected by the Syrian civil war. In response to the humanitarian emergency, the Government of Canada launched #WelcomeRefugees in late 2015, committing to welcome more than 25,000 Syrian refugees in 100 days. In this resettlement effort, Canada has received more than 100,000 Syrian refugees since 2011. While Syrian refugees build new lives, research indicates that this population often faces ongoing challenges during resettlement, including racism, barriers to employment, language, and credential recognition issues, as well as social isolation, all of which shape the mental health and well-being in their new communities.
Links to further reading:
Thank you to Daqo Abdulle, VCST volunteer research coordinator, and Melinda Quintero, VCST project manager, for their writing and research on this country profile.