Syria Political system
According to EQUZHOU.NET, Syria has been a presidential republic since 1973, and the constitution dates from the same year. Syria is a member of the UN, the Arab League and the OAPEC. The unicameral parliament (Volkskammer) has 250 members and is elected by the people every four years. The direct election of the President takes place every 7 years; he can be re-elected as often as desired. The President appoints a cabinet that reports to the Prime Minister. The right to vote exists from the age of 18. See AbbreviationFinder for more information about Syria politics, and acronyms as well.
There has been an armed uprising against the Assad regime since March 2011. The result is that numerous groups rule the country and Assad, with the support of Russia and Iran, only rules a small part of the country.
A particularly successful and very cruel group is the IS (Islamic State), which controls large parts of the country and is attacked from the air by the Americans, Russians, French and others.
At the beginning of 2016, half of the population was on the run – both inside and outside the country
The official name of the country is:
| Al-dschumhūriyya al-arabiyya as-sūriyya Syrian Arab Republic |
National anthem
Based on flag descriptions by Countryaah.com, the Syrian national anthem is entitled “Humat ad-Diyar” in German: “Guardian of the homeland”. It has been the country’s anthem since 1936. The text was written by Khalil Mardam Bey (1895-1959), the music is by Mohammad Salim Flayfel and Ahmad Salim Flayfel, who also composed the national anthem of Palestine.
- Check top-mba-universities for public holidays, sports events, UNESCO world heritage sites and major places to visit in Syria.
In the English translation it reads:
| Defender of the empiremake peace with you;
Our proud disposition does not allow submission of the building block of Arabia. A blessed sanctuary. The seat of the stars. An inviolable shelter |
Famous pepole
Saladin (1137/1138 – 1193)
The field army born as Salāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf bin Ayyūb in Tikrit and later named “al-Malik an-Nāṣir” (= “the victorious ruler”) founder of the Kurdish dynasty of the Ayyubids Ruled above all over Egypt and Syria. Sultan Saladin has become a myth. He is still considered the greatest of all heroes in the Muslim world and is the exemplary example of an Islamic ruler. The conqueror Saladin, who conquered Jerusalem in 1187 and did so there He behaved prudently and tolerantly, was primarily glorified as a powerful opponent of the crusaders.The great Saladin died in Damascus in 1193.
Abd ar-Rahman I (731-788)
Born in Damascus, from 756 to 788 first emir of Cordoba (Andalusia)
Abd al-Qadir (1808 – 1883)
Algerian freedom fighter who died in Damascus; saved thousands of Damascus Christians during the 1860 massacre related to fighting between Muslim Druze and Christian Maronites
David (died around 1,000 BC)
second king of Israel and Judah (according to books 1 and 2 of Samuel); conquered around 990 BC BC Damascus (2 Sam 8,8)
Ghassan Massoud (born 1958)
Syrian film actor from Damascus; most recently played Saladin in Ridley Scott’s epic “Kingdom of Heaven”
Baschar Hafiz al-Assad (born 1965)
Baschar Hafiz al-Assad was born on September 11, 1965 as the son of the then officer Hafiz al-Assad (1930-2000) and his wife Anisa Machluf (1934-2016) in Damascus. He has been General Secretary of the Ba’ath Party and President of Syria since 2000. Assad is a member of the Alawites’ religious community. As a result of the civil war that has raged since 2011, he only ruled some parts of Syria.
Hafiz al-Assad (1930 – 2000)
IHafiz al-Assad was born on October 6, 1930 in the small Syrian town of Kardaha. He was President of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He was the father of Bashar Hafiz al-Assad.
He died on October 6, 2000 in Damascus.
John of Damascus (approx. 650 – 749)
Also Ioannes Damascenus (Latin) or Johannes ibn Mansur (Arabic); important Orthodox Christian church father who was born in Damascus and grew up there
Marcus Antonius (83/86 BC – 30 BC)
Roman statesman and general; gave Damascus (as part of Coelesyria) as a gift to Cleopatra VII of Egypt
Michel Aflaq (1910 – 1989)
Damascus-born founder of Ba’athism and the Ba’ath party, whose most famous representative later became Saddam Hussein.
Mua’wiya Al-Sagheer the Younger (7th century)
The son of Yazid ben Muawiya ben Abu Sofian resigned after just one month as caliph on the grounds that the Umayyads had no right to the title of caliph. The shrine of Mua’wiyas, who was murdered by his family because of this affront, can be visited in a small street near the Umayyad Mosque.
Ali Ahmad Said Esber (born 1930)
The Latakia-born poet and writer who later became known as “Adonis” has been one of the narrowest circle of candidates for the Nobel Prize for Literature for years.
Paulus (died around 64)
one of the most influential theologians of early Christianity and – alongside Peter – the most important early Christian missionary, had his experience of conversion as Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. The image of Jesus Christ had appeared to him. “Why are you persecuting me,” it said to him, whereupon Paul went blind and was nursed back to health in what is now the Syrian capital. Today you can visit the chapel of St. Paul in the old town of Damascus, which commemorates the apostle’s flight from his persecutors.
Before his conversion to Christianity, Paul was called Saul of Tarsus. He was a Jew and was considered a cruel persecutor of the Christians. Ananias is now asked by God in a vision to lay hands on Saul and thus heal him from his blindness, which attacked him on the way to Damascus. After the healing, Saul is baptized and becomes one of the most important missionaries, theologians and apostles of the Christian religion. (The exact experience can be found in the biblical Lukan Acts 9: 10-19.)
Salah al-Din al-Bitar (1912-1980)
Syrian politician born in Damascus and co-founder of the Ba’ath party
Rafik Schami (born 1946)
This Syrian-German writer was born in Damascus in 1946.
Ghada Schouaa (born 1972)
This Syrian athlete was born in 1972 in Mahrda, who won her country’s first and so far only gold medal in the heptathlon at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
She now lives in Simmern in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Thutmose III. (around 1479 BC – around 1425 BC)
Egyptian pharaoh who lived in the 15th century BC. Chr. Damascus took
Yasser Seirawan (born 1960)
He currently lives in the USA, this chess grandmaster, born in Damascus in 1969. He has won the US championships four times, and in 1979 he was the winner of the Junior World Chess Championship.
