Syria

Syria is located in the Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea between Lebanon and Turkey, with terrain consisting primarily of a semiarid and desert plateau, a narrow coastal plain, and mountains in the west. The climate is mostly desert with hot, dry, sunny summers and mild, rainy winters along the coast, with cold weather and occasional snow in Damascus, which is thought to be one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. Damascus serves as the capital, and Syria has a population of approximately 24.26 million people who speak Arabic, Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French, and English.

Syria has a low-income economy that was devastated by an 11-year civil war, with prior infrastructure largely destroyed and ongoing US sanctions compounding the challenges. Key industries include petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, and automobile assembly. The country’s natural resources include petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum, and hydropower. The economy faces hyperinflation and is being supported by a World Bank trust fund amid severe humanitarian conditions.