About Syria

Location
Syria is located in Western Asia on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, which is bordered it from the west, and from the north is bordered by Turkey, from the east it is bordered by Iraq, Jordan and occupied Palestine bordering it from the south, and from the south-west it is bordered by Lebanon.

Area: total area of the Syrian Arab Republic is 185000 km 2.

Population: Syria has a population of about 17 million people.

DC: Damascus the oldest inhabited capital city in the world and has been called several names, such as (Faiha - Sham - Gelq) and is surrounded by eight doors. Damascus has been elected as the Arab capital of culture for 2008.


The most important cities: Aleppo - Homs - Hama - Lattakia - Edleb - Deir ALZor - Hasakeh - Raqqah - Swaida - Tartus - Daraa – Quneitra.

Climate:
the prevails climate is the Mediterranean, which is characterized by cold rainy winter and dry hot summer, through these two seasons there are mild spring and autumn.

Syria is divided in terms of geography into four regions:
1 - the coastal regions: located between the sea and the mountains, and it is characterized by abundant rainfall winter, and mild temperatures with a high percentage of moisture in summer.
2 - the mountainous region: located along with the coast at an altitude of more than 1000 m above sea level, and it is characterized by heavy rain and very cold winter and mild summer.
3 - the Interior region : the flat region (the plains of Damascus – Homs - Hamah), and it is characterized by medium rainfall, hot and dry summer.
4 - the desert region: the desert plains in the south-east of the country characterized by low rainfall, hot and dry summer and the weather varies from region to region according to its height above sea level and according to its distance from the sea.

there are various and many tourist sites which are either archaeological or natural, as well as many places for spending holidays:
- The great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus: located in the heart of the old city, and it is surrounded by old markets and characterized by Islamic architectural features and mosaics paintings.
- Historic castles: which tells the history of the region and the events that passed by Aleppo, Damascus, Alhosen castles….
- Old markets: spread in the Syrian provinces, particularly Aleppo and Damascus, and these markets tell and reserve the ancient history.
- Relaxation and holiday spending Areas: located in the coast, mountains and Zabadani ....
- Archeological cities: which were located on the road of commercial convoys in the past eras, such as Palmyra, Bosra ALSham and Ebla, in addition to Ras Shamra, which launched the world’s first alphabet.
Read more on the website of the Ministry of Tourism http://www.syriatourism.org