Syria

Syria is a country in the Middle East, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire and the French Mandate.

It lies to the southeast of Turkey and east of Lebanon and Israel. It is north of Jordan and northwest of Iraq. The capital is Damascus. It was the first country in the region to let women vote.

From about 2011 to 2024, it went through a civil war in which forces loyal to dictator Bashar Assad have kept control of the capital but lost control of large parts of the countryside and some major cities. In December 2024, the government fell and Assad fled to Russia with his family.

There is a Russian naval base along the coast, near Lebanon. It is Russia's only naval base on the Mediterranean.