Syria (Arabic: سوريا), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية), is a country in the Middle East. It borders Lebanon to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. Israel once occupied the Golan Heights in the southwest of the country; a dispute with Turkey over the Hatay Province now seems to have subsided. Historically, Syria has often been taken to include the territories of Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and parts of Jordan, but excluding the Jazira region in the north-east of the modern Syrian state. In this historic sense, the region is also known as Greater Syria or by the Arabic name Bilad al-Sham.

Name

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The name Syria comes from the ancient Greek name for the land of Aram at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the north, stretching inland to include Mesopotamia, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including from west to east Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene, "formerly known as Assyria" (N.H. 5.66). By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent from each other): Judaea (or "Judea" and later renamed Palestine in AD 135—the region corresponding to the modern states of Israel and Jordan and the Palestinian territories) in the extreme southwest, Phoenicia corresponding to Lebanon, with Damascena to the inland side of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") south of the Eleutheris river, and Mesopotamia.
Syrian people, however, call their country "Souria" or "Sooria." This name is a variation of "syria," and is used in Arabic as well.

History

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@cnnbrk U would think Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Would Step up and Condemn this Violence against fellow Muslims..DO THEY CARE? Nooooo
alljoy (B Cassell) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:54:46 -0000
@cnnbrk U would think Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Would Step up and Condemn this Violence against fellow Muslims..DO THEY CARE? Nooooo
VIVA PALESTINA CONVOY DENIED ENTRY TO GAZA BY EGYPT, HAD TO GO BACK TO SYRIA AND THEN TO SINAI AND GAZA. SHAME ON EGYPT!
TROGIRKA (VANESSA SEGO) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:14:34 -0000
VIVA PALESTINA CONVOY DENIED ENTRY TO GAZA BY EGYPT, HAD TO GO BACK TO SYRIA AND THEN TO SINAI AND GAZA. SHAME ON EGYPT!
UN agency mobilizes Iraqis to extend helping hand to fellow refugees in Subscribe to Syria RSS feed