team+17+Syria



** Syria **

=Introduction= ====Syria is a country in West Asia bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to  ==== ====the Southwest. The country covers about 71,504 sq. mi which is about the size of North Dakota. The population is 21 million with 75% Sunni Muslim, 13% Shia Muslim, 9% Christian and 3% Druze. The  capital city, Damascus is the oldest inhabited city in the world and was the seat of the Umyyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. Syria was established after World War I as a result of the French Mandate and was the largest Arab state to emerge from the Ottoman Empire. Syria gained its independence in April 1946. Arabic is the national language however there are many other languages spoken. ====

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-Cody Kuhn and Hajr Muhammad

= = **The French Mandate (1920-1950) ** ====The French Mandate was a mandate founded by the League of Nations after World War I and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. Due to the Sykes- Picot agreement between Britain and France, Britain was in control of most Ottoman Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and the southern part of the Ottoman Syria (Palestine and Jordan), and the French controlled the rest of Ottoman Syria (modern Syria, Lebanon, Alexandretta and parts of Turkey). ====

====In the early 1920s the League of Nations assigned France the mandate of Syria.The French general Henri Gouraud divided the mandate of Syria into six states. They were Damascus, Aleppo, Alawites, Jabal Druze, the Sanjak of Alexandretta, and the State of Greater Lebanon. In 1922, France established a federation between Damascus, Aleppo, and the Alawite now becoming the Syrian Federation. Jabal Druze, Sanjak of Alexandretta and Greater Lebanon were not part of the federation. In 1924, the Alawite state withdrew from the federation when Aleppo and Damascus were united to form the state of Syria. ====

====In 1925, there was a revolt in Jabal Druze which spread to other Syrian states and became a rebellion in Syria. France retaliated by trying to convince Aleppo to declare secession from the union with Damascus but the voting by Syrian patriots prevented this from occurring. In 1930 the State of Syria was declared the Republic of Syria creating a new constitution. In 1932 a new Flag was adopted. ====

====In 1936 the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was signed. The treaty brought Jabal Druze, the Alawite and Alexandretta into the Syrian republic. Greater Lebanon was the only state that was not part of the treaty. In 1938, France transformed Alexandretta into the Republic of Hatay withdrawing from the Syrian republic. In 1939 the Republic of Hatay became a part of Turkey. In 1944 Syria became an independent republic. ====

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- Cody Kuhn

**Baath Party under ruler-ship of Hafiz al-Assad (1970-2000)**
In 1970 the Syrian government president position was replaced by Dr Nur ed-Din al-Atasi but in November 1970 after a bloodless coup the military wing of the Baath Party seized power. The Baath party is an Arab socialist Renaissance party and the second largest legal political party in Syria(4). The leader of the Baath party Lt-Gen. Hafiz al-Assad was soon elected president in March 1971 (2). He consolidated his power by appealing to the old bourgeoisie (the merchants and landlords) as a way of securing both regime and and consolidating state (1). A year later president Assad formed the National Progressive Front (NPF) (2). A group of five main political parties including Baath. His economic policies which reflected the political shift in Syria came to be known as relaxation ‘Infiraj’ or opening up to the people (al-infitah ala ashshab). Thus, the ‘corrective movement’ that began under Hafiz al Assad signified a radical shift towards building a national economy(1). After the elections were held to establish local councils in each of Syria's fourteen governorates in March of 1973 a new Syrian constitution went into effect. The 1973 constitution defined Syria, a secular socialist state with Islam recognized as the major religion (2).

In 1976 Syria sent 40,000 Arab troops into Lebanon, providing the bulk of the Arab Deterrent force. This act was to help Lebanon from being overrun in the Lebanese Civil war (3). Syria soon switched sides and became involved with the Lebanese civil war. During the war many deaths and assassinations were attributed to Syria, including the death of Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's Prime Minister. Syria remained in Lebanon after the war influencing a big hand in the Lebanese politics but Syria was soon pressured to leave because the blame put on them for the death of Hariri. About one million migrated to Lebanon after the war to find jobs (2).

Throughout the 1970s, the development of agrarian capitalism had subjected the peasantry and small farmers to market competition. A a result many lost their parcels of land while the landlords began amassing larger plots of land. The protests of that took place during 1977-82 was a reaction to the expanding power of the ruling classes under the advocacy of the state. By the 1980s new classes began to dominate the state and over the next 15 years these classes began to reconstruct the economic development, while responding to economic global pressures. By 1991 the investment law no. 10 was adopted which made a radical shift in the balance of class forces. The aftermath of this brought four new factions of the ruling classes have come to determine the path of state formation replacing the old bourgeoisie, the military and security forces which played and important role in maintaining the constitutional and statistical policies of al- Assad (1). In 1997 Syria posted GDP growth rate of -4.4% due to a slowdown in agricultural output and reduced revenues from oil exports. The trend continued in 1998 with the GDP decreasing 1.2%. The decreasing GDP continued through 1998 (5).

Syria's participation in the US-led multinational coalition aligned against Saddam Husseinmmarked dramatic watershed in Syria's relationship with other Arab states and with the Western world. Syria's negotiations with other countries failed. This included Southwest Asia Peace Conference and Syria's participation with the multilateral in 1991 and the engaged face-to-face negotiations with Israel. President Assad hasn't had any Syrian-Israeli talks since meeting with President Bill Clinton of the United States in 2000 (3).

3) [|Wikipedia- Syria]
4) [|Library of Congress studies- Syria] 5) [|Syria: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Rights]

**Bashar Al-Assad's Regime (2000 - Present)**
====After 30 years Syrian presidency, Hafez Al-Assad died on June 10th 2000. His son Bashar Al-Assad was elected President on July 10, 2000. Bashar Al-Assad ran unopposed and was elected by referendum, gathering 97.29% of the votes according to the Syrian Government. The minimum age of the President was reduced from 40 to 34 in the Syrian constitution by the parliament immediately after Hafez Al-Assad’s death, allowing Bashar Al-Assad to become an eligible nominee for the ruling Baath party in the Presidential elections. Bashar was re-elected for another seven-year term on May 27, 2007 with 97.6% of the votes, again unopposed (1). ====

====Bashar was born in Damascus on September 11, 1965. Throughout his early life, Bashar was not interested in politics or the military; however, he enjoyed science and was an ideal student who excelled academically. His passion for science and education led him to pursue a degree in Medicine at Damascus University and later train in ophthalmology in London (2). His older brother Basil was meant to take over the role of president after his fathers death, however after his death, Bashar became the new heir apparent so he came back to Damascus to prepare himself for taking over power. ====

====Bashar Al-Assad’s regime was expected to take a more liberal and democratic stance than his fathers, however, like his fathers regime; Bashar’s government has maintained a tight political, social and economic censorship on its citizens (3). This led to the Damascus Spring in 2000 directly after Bashar became president and the recent 2011 Syrian Uprising against Bashar’s dictatorial rule. ====



The Syrian government controls most of the economy in the country. The majority of industries, companies and investments are state-controlled leaving very little space for private economic liberalization and foreign investment. In addition, there is very little diversification in Syria’s economy, relying mostly on oil exports, agriculture and the manufacture of clothing. However, there has recently been an introduction of small-scale private banking and free trade agreements with the European Union. In recent years there has been a large decline in oil, agriculture, and manufacture production. There has also been a large amount of corruption and a weak capital financial market in Syria which has ultimately led to a high unemployment rate. The United Nations Development Programme states that 30% of the Syrian population lives in poverty and 11.4% live below the subsistence level (1).

====On January 26, 2011 thousands of Syrians, influenced by the Arab Spring in the region, started protesting across the streets of Syria calling for political reforms, civil rights, democracy, economic opportunities and for Bashar Al-Assad to step down as President. These peaceful protests took place in many cities across Syria including Damascus and are still going on to this day. Bashar and his government have responded to this uprising with a violent crackdown on the civilian protesters resulting in 4000 deaths and many more injuries amongst the protesters (4). According to the Human Rights Watch, Syria’s human rights situation is amongst the worst in the world (5). As a result of the massive killings and human right violations by Bashar’s regime against his own people, the Arab League, United States, European Union and many other countries have distanced themselves from the Syrian government and have demanded it to stop the killings of Syrian citizens. The massive number of killings and the situation in Syria has led to many refugees fleeing Syria and residing in Turkey. ====

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1. [|"Background Note: Syria"]. [|United States Department of State], Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, May 2007. [] =====

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2. Leverett, Flynt (2005). [|Inheriting Syria Bashar's trial by fire]. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. pp. 60. =====

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<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">3. [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad#cite_note-Leverett60-9] =====

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4. __ [|"Dozens 'tortured and killed in Syria detention centres'"] __. BBC News. 31 August 2011. [] =====

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5. [|"Syria among worst for rights abuses: HRW report"]. Reuters. 2011-01-24. [] =====