叙利亚(Syria)
正式名称叙利亚阿拉伯共和国（Syrian Arab Republic）
南亚国家，位於地中海东岸。面积185,180平方公里。人口约16,729,000（2001）。首都︰大马士革。阿拉伯人是主要种族，库尔德人是最大的少数民族。语言︰阿拉伯语（官方语）、法语、库尔德语、亚美尼亚语、英语。宗教︰伊斯兰教（逊尼派、阿拉维派和德鲁士派）、基督教（少数）。货币︰叙利亚镑（LS）。叙利亚的地形有沿海地带，水资源丰沛；包含前黎巴嫩山脉的山区；和叙利亚沙漠的一部分。幼发拉底河是最重要的水源也是唯一有航运之利的河流。经济是以农业、贸易、矿业和制造业为基础的混合经济。农作物包括了棉花、谷物、水果、烟草和畜产品。矿产资源有石油、天然气和铁矿；制造业包括了纺织、水泥和制鞋。政府形式是共和国，一院制。国家元首暨政府首脑是总统，并且必须是穆斯林。法律系统主要以伊斯兰法为基础。
叙利亚有居民的历史已达数千年。从西元前3千纪起，它在不同时期分别处於苏美人、阿卡德人、阿莫里特人、埃及人、西台人、亚述人和巴比伦尼亚人的统治之下。西元前6世纪，它成为波斯阿契美尼德王朝的一部分，西元前330年该王朝落入亚历山大大帝手中。西元前301～西元前164年前後，塞琉西王国的统治者们控制了它；然後是安息人和纳巴泰人瓜分了这个地区。在成为罗马的一个省（西元前64～西元300年）和拜占庭帝国（300～634）的一部分而繁荣起来，直到穆斯林入侵并建立统治。1516年它归於鄂图曼帝国，除了被埃及短暂统治外，鄂图曼帝国一直控制着它直到第一次世界大战中英国入侵。大战结束後，它成了法国的托管区；1944年实现独立。1958～1961年间它在阿拉伯联合共和国中与埃及联合。在六日战争期间，它将戈兰高地输给了以色列。1980年代和1990年代，叙利亚的军队经常在黎巴嫩与以色列的军队发生冲突。阿塞德漫长和严酷的统治还表现在与叙利亚的邻国土耳其和伊拉克的对抗。
English version：
Syria
Country, South Asia, eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Area: 71,498 sq mi (185,180 sq km). Population (2000 est.): 16,306,000. Capital: Damascus. Arabs are the main ethnic group, with Kurds the largest minority. Languages: Arabic (official), French, Kurdish, Armenian, English. Religions: Islam (Sunni, Alawi, Druze), Christianity (minority). Currency: Syrian pound. Syria consists of a coastal zone, with abundant water supplies; a mountain zone that includes the Anti-Lebanon Mountains; and a portion of the Syrian Desert. The Euphrates River is its most important water source and only navigable river. It has a mixed economy based on agriculture, trade, and mining and manufacturing. Crops include cotton, cereals, fruits, tobacco, and livestock. Mineral resources include petroleum, natural gas, and iron ore; manufactures include textiles, cement, and shoes. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and of government is the president, who by law must be a Muslim. The legal system is based largely on Islamic law. Syria has been inhabited for several thousand years. From the 3rd millennium BC, it has been under the control variously of Sumerians, Akkadians, Amorites, Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians. In the 6th century BC it became part of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty, which fell to Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Seleucid rulers governed it 301-c. 164 BC; then Parthians and Nabataean Arabs divided the region. It flourished as a Roman province (64 BC-AD 300) and as part of the Byzantine empire (300-634), until Muslims invaded and established control. It came under the Ottoman empire in 1516, which held it, except for brief rules by Egypt, until the British invaded in World War I. After the war it became a French mandate; it achieved independence in 1944. It united with Egypt in the United Arab Republic (1958-61). During the Six-Day War (1967), it lost the Golan Heights to Israel. Syrian troops frequently clashed with Israeli troops in Lebanon during the 1980s and '90s. Hafiz al-Assad's long and harsh regime was marked also by antagonism toward Syria's neighbors Turkey and Iraq.