Syria

Despite that the modern Syria was established little more than 50 years ago, the area is to be claimed as one of the oldest civilisations in the world. Archaeologists found settlements at Ras Shamra (6600 BC) on Mediterranean coast and Tell Hariri (4500 BC) on the Euphrates River which were advanced city-states.

The most excited invention of that time was the development of an alphabet, which is the oldest alphabet in the world. It was designed in Ras Shamra and was much easier than Egyptian hieroglyphics and became generally use by 1000 BC. The Ras Shamra’s alphabet is the ancestor for modern written scripts.

Any historical fact about Syria has a connection with history of Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine. By 732 BC territories of the present Syria were defeated by the Assyrian empire. The area remained by the Babylonia’s power for four centuries after their victory over Assyrians and for two centuries by the Persians who defeated Babylon in 539 BC. In 333 BC victorious Alexander the Great on his way to Egypt captured the Persians. Two empires were established, one gained Egypt and southern Syria, while another - Babylonia and north Syria. In 638 the Muslim armies defeated Jerusalem and Syria was under their control. In 1095 the Pope pleaded for the returning of the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and knights and peasants gathered to the east. Two centuries the Crusades fought for the name of Christ. They established several states and took over the Crak des Chevaliers – the Crusader Castle. In 1250 the Turkish Mamluks took Cairo and reunited Egypt and Syria. In the 14th century the Mamluks managed to defeat the Crusaders. The Mongolian leader Tamerlane captured Aleppo and Damascus in 1401 but by 1516 Syria was once again under the power of Ottoman Turks. The Egyptians had a success over Syria in 1830s and Ibrahim Pasha, son of the Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali led the area. The Ibrahim’s regime was not popular among European traders and in 1840 the Egyptians was forced to withdraw. During WWI the British and the Turks were fighting for the area of Syria. Emir Faisal led the Arab Revolt in Syria with help of the British colonel TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and other British officers set up a government in 1918. Faisal was declared the king of Greater Syria, but in 1920 the French gained the mandate over Syria by the League of Nations and withdrew Faisal. The French mandate led Syria to two revolts in 1925. In 1926 France twice bombarded Damascus. In 1932 was the first parliamentary election in the history of Syria. Since 1939 Turkey and Syria have a problem over a subprovince of Alexandretta, which Turkey took by force, but Syria still show it on maps as its area. In 1958 Syria merged with Egypt and became the Northern Province of the United Arab Republic. In September 1961 Syria got sovereignty. In 1967 the Six Day War with Israel and in 1970 the Black September hostilities hit Syria. The Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party which was founded in 1940 by a Christian teacher, Michel Aflaq, took and lost its control over Syria. In 1971 the President Hafez al-Assad was elected. Until the crash of the Soviet Union Syria was under its power and followed the super security and secrecy rules. Assad ruled the country until the year 2000. He was a mini-Stalin for Syria, at the time of his presidency, you could see his portraits everywhere in Syria, his last election in 1998 passed with an amazing 99.9% of the vote. After his death nobody doubt to chose his younger son as the next President of Syria and in 2001 Bashir al-Assad took the power. Syria tried to improve its international relationship and demanded withdrawal of the Israel’ army from the Golan Heights, control over them Syria lost in 1967.