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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Paisleypappas1.
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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 January 2019 and 17 April 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Loramouammer.
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I noticed that this article and the articles List of cities in Syria, Aleppo and Damascus have conflicting information about relative size of these cities. I realise that it must be difficult to obtain the true figures, but it would be good if someone with a knowledge of the most reliable sources on the topic could update the four articles to reflect the same information, and/or add a footnote about the uncertainty. (I have just removed the reference to size in the introductory section of this article.) Laterthanyouthink (talk) 00:29, 27 November 2018 (UTC)
I'm from Aleppo and I think Aleppo is the biggest syrian city Hurricanestudier123 (talk) 22:46, 21 August 2021 (UTC)
Moshe Maoz as an Israeli SCholar is to my opinion perhaps the only one with minimum or almost no Zionist Bias about Syria. There is however an article on Mordechai Kedar who is deeply biased. Moshe Maos deserves an article, and now more than even for working on a summary of the uprising in Syria. The Hebrew Article is not so good and suffers of many problems as well. 84.111.208.168 (talk) 18:21, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
"The current constitution of Syria, adopted in 2012, effectively transformed the country into a semi-presidential republic due to the constitutional right for the election of individuals who do not form part of the National Progressive Front." This sentence needs a lot more explication to be understandable for outsiders...! — Preceding unsigned comment added by HilmarHansWerner (talk • contribs) 22:01, 1 March 2019 (UTC)
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In the English language page "Syria", in section "Agrarian reform", 2nd paragraph, change "...established collective barging..." to "...established collective bargaining..." Normal-x (talk) 12:58, 27 July 2019 (UTC)
Syria claims signifigant portions of territory it does not control, the Golan Heights and Turkey's Hatay province, as these areas are visible on the map, they should be shaded light green as territory claimed but not controlled just as similar areas are on the maps of China, India, Venezuela, Ukraine, Georgia, Japan, Moldova, Somalia, Pakistan,ect.XavierGreen (talk) 16:37, 7 February 2020 (UTC)
I agree with this. Mushteeg (talk) 00:12, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
"The Aramaic language has been found as far afield as Hadrians Wall in Ancient Britain, with inscriptions written by Assyrian and Aramean soldiers of the Roman Empire.[53]"
1. The source provided does not call them Assyrian or Aramaean.
2. The fort has nothing to with Syria. Its builders were Iraqi. EDIT: Nevermind, they were both Syrian and Iraqi.Julia Domna Ba'al (talk) 12:58, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
3. The inhabitants were Arab, from the [Kingdom of Araba] in central Mesopotamia with Hatra as its capital, near another major Arab city Singara. EDIT: Arabs from Iraq plus Palmyrenes, who were either Arab or Aramaean.Julia Domna Ba'al (talk) 12:58, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
4. Septimius Severus's wars here, from where he relocated the "Tigris Boatmen" to England, were called the Arabian wars.
Source: Glen Bowersock's Roman Arabia (among others).
This sentence should either be removed, or edited to include accurate information. Julia Domna Ba'al (talk) 12:44, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
---
The site was inhabited by Arabs from central Mesopotamia but the inscription was from a Palmyrene emigrant (either Arab or Aramaean).
User:Makeandtoss can you edit this line? Make it:
The Aramaic language has been found as far afield as Hadrians Wall in Ancient Britain[1] with an inscription written by a Palmyrene emigrant at the site of Fort Arbeia.[2]
1- same source, the guardian article 2- Palmyra: Mirage in the Desert, Joan Aruz, 2018, page 78.
Julia Domna Ba'al (talk) 09:23, 24 May 2020 (UTC)
This is wrong:
"Her great nephews, also Arameans from Syria, would also become Roman Emperors, the first being Elagabalus and the second, his cousin Alexander Severus."
"The matriarch of the family and Empress of Rome as wife of emperor Septimius Severus was Julia Domna, a Syrian from the city of Emesa"
Domna was not Aramaean, she was Arab, from the Emesan Dynasty which academics agree are an Arab family.
This has to be corrected. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Julia Domna Ba'al (talk • contribs) 13:09, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
I propose adding a section regarding Arab presence in Syria, from 9th-6th century wars against Assyria, then Achaemenid Arabia, then extensive Arab presence during the Seleucid and early Roman periods. Arab kingdoms like Emesa and Nabataea (which controlled Damascus for a while) are not mentioned.
"According to Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy, much of the Province of Syria was populated by Arabs" -MCA Macdonald. Julia Domna Ba'al (talk) 13:12, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
This article is used as a reference by some that Arabs never had major influence over Syria pre-Islam, and it's written in a way that encourages that idea. Julia Domna Ba'al (talk) 13:19, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
No mentions of Iturea, Tanukhids (around Aleppo), Salihids, Ghassanids ruling ALL of Syria under Justinian, tribes such as banu kalb, and many other. Jabiya, the cultural center of Arabs pre-Islam is located in modern day Syria. I can write a short section summarizing all this pending approval (don't want to waste me time). Julia Domna Ba'al (talk) 14:37, 23 May 2020 (UTC)
added new section regarding the current critical situation and new developing national crisis situation in Syria. --Sm8900 (talk) 19:30, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
In the "Major economic crisis, 2020" section it says "On 10 June, hundreds of protesters returned to the streets of Sweida for the fourth consecutive day, rallying against the collapse of the country’s economy, as the Syrian pound plummeted to 3,000 to the dollar within the past week.", but when I calculate it here, it says 1 USD = 514 SYP. Am I missing something? --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 05:16, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
Αn additional problem with this section is that it is very poorly written. Material has been added in haphazard fashion, without any logical flow, and the same thing is repeated over and over again. Most of these additions fall within WP:RECENT and WP:NOTNEWS. The section needs to be drastically trimmed and tightened. Khirurg (talk) 18:35, 4 July 2020 (UTC)
The current text contains a contradiction on the time period Syria had troops in Lebanon: It says: "In early 1976, Syria entered Lebanon, beginning their thirty-year military presence.[88]" It also says: "In 2005, Syria ended its military presence in Lebanon.[96][97]" I am not a mathematician, but fail to see how this adds up to 33 years... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:DF:5F4F:8734:20CC:4325:E81:F97F (talk) 16:12, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
Wanted to look up the two places called Bani(y)as on the map of Syria, but there is no map where one is expected. Why? Arminden (talk) 12:45, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
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In the lead, please add “a country in the Levant region of Western Asia”.2603:8081:160A:BE2A:51BF:100C:BF87:623D (talk) 08:47, 8 November 2020 (UTC)
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Add a line about the most recent missile strikes on Syrian land by US president Joe Biden. Edimeme (talk) 13:46, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
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Under History - French Mandate (2.5), the second paragraph reads: In 1925, Sultan al-Atrash led a revolt that broke out in the Druze Mountain and spread to engulf the whole of Syria and parts of Lebanon. Al-Atrash won several battles against the French, notably the Battle of al-Kafr on 21 July 1925
The link of Battle of al-Kafr leads to the 1882 Battle of Kafr El Dawwar in Egypt. It should instead lead to the correct Battle of al-Kafr: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_al-Kafr
2001:8F8:1361:7F53:C1B3:A8DA:E792:6E4D (talk) 17:42, 28 October 2021 (UTC)
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Please change the hyperlink in Palestine in "In May 1948, Syrian forces invaded Palestine" from Palestine the region to Mandatory Palestine. 188.247.77.83 (talk) 21:04, 1 July 2022 (UTC)
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The largest city in Syria is Aleppo. Not Damascus, which is what is mistakenly written in the introduction of the Wikipedia page of Syria. Not only do many sources prove this https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cities/syria But wikipedia's own "list of cities in Syria" has Aleppo as the largest/most populated city in Syria. 94.205.97.129 (talk) 23:10, 1 July 2022 (UTC)
Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Source needs to be something like a official government website showing population of cities, or a news article referring to it. This source appears to be mainly a blog Fbifriday (talk) 14:59, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
The information on ethnicity in the infobox warrants further discussion. Neither the previous stable source, which was figures from Columbia, nor the recently added input from the CIA World factbook, provide clear data. The Columbia data provided a hybridized snapshot of ethnicity groupings by combining ethnic and religious features; the CIA data is more simplistic, but includes the entirely unexplained groupings "Levantines", which seems to be a vague catch-all term that achieves little except raise questions. Wikipedia does not even have a redirect to somewhere for that term, let alone a page explaining what it might mean in an ethnic context. Ethnicity is complex and deserves better treatment. Iskandar323 (talk) 08:37, 18 August 2022 (UTC)
why isn't the golan heights included in the map of Syria? 2001:4479:C801:2B00:C47B:6E45:5BD6:F9FB (talk) 07:18, 14 September 2022 (UTC)
Yes it should be added at least as disputed territory just like Crimea by light green between Israel and Syria and by international law it's still Syrian only Israel and US recognizes it isn't Nlivataye (talk) 05:58, 10 December 2022 (UTC)
Do we have anything on it? 41.58.242.97 (talk) 18:03, 25 September 2022 (UTC)
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Syria's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.
Reference named "MiddleEastEye":
I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 17:02, 31 October 2022 (UTC)
@Ayıntaplı: I am inquiring as to why you object to using a map of Syria which includes it's territorial claims in light green? This is the standard for all other country articles with disputed territories such as Ukraine, Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan (on the third map), Russia, Venezuela, and others. Serafart (talk) (contributions) 00:51, 16 November 2022 (UTC)
As per your edit summary, it was controversial, and I reverted it, as I thought it could be elaborated on in the body text instead. If this is a standard practice, which I hadn’t noticed until today, you can restore your edit. Ayıntaplı (talk) 03:22, 16 November 2022 (UTC)
I wouldn’t call Syria totalitarian. While I’d definitely agree that it’s authoritarian, a certain amount of opposition is tolerated and the government doesn’t have complete control of the people. 2600:4041:453A:B200:9CCD:43A7:6CA2:57C5 (talk) 00:30, 13 December 2022 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 09:37, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
The SAR is one of the multiple rival organizations/governments administrating the Syrian territories. Almost all of these recognised Syrian international boundaries (with the historical exception of IS after ISIS ended in 2014 and they "abolished Syria" in their territories along with the Iraqi-Syrian border) but these are not necessarily (the Rojava claims are complicated, claiming just an autonomy but wanting to do away with the "Arab" thing at once) "officially the Syrian Arab Republic" for the local governments. 5.173.105.14 (talk) 07:30, 15 January 2023 (UTC)
I edited this page when I should not have.
I was advised on Treehouse to make an edit request to fix my broken citation. GoutComplex (talk) 22:39, 2 March 2023 (UTC)
The statement "The Invasion purpose was to prevent the establishment of the State of Israel." is neither true nor is it upheld by the source given, which only states "The humiliating failure of the Arab intervention in Palestine against the newly created State of Israel in May 1948 brought serious discredit to the governments of the Arab countries involved, but nowhere more than in Syria." Syria was part of the Arab League and their official statement was that they were intervening in Palestine because of the lawlessness there and the ethnic cleansing: "The recent disturbances in Palestine further constitute a serious and direct threat to peace and security within the territories of the Arab States themselves. For these reasons, and considering that the security of Palestine is a sacred trust for them, and out of anxiousness to check the further deterioration of the prevailing conditions and to prevent the spread of disorder and lawlessness into the neighbouring Arab lands, and in order to fill the vacuum created by the termination of the Mandate and the failure to replace it by any legally constituted authority, the Arab Governments find themselves compelled to intervene for the sole purpose of restoring peace and security and establishing law and order in Palestine." (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cablegram_from_the_Secretary-General_of_the_League_of_Arab_States_to_the_Secretary-General_of_the_United_Nations) Mcdruid (talk) 06:53, 3 March 2023 (UTC)
Can anyone add the earthquake that happened in Syria? Flag Creator (talk) 11:25, 27 March 2023 (UTC)
Syria might've been ruled by the same political party for decades, but that doesn't make it a one-party state; there are other political parties in the country, such as the Communist Party. So I think the best description of Syria would be a unitary Baathist dominant-party semi-presidential republic. 2600:4041:552C:3200:2CE4:498F:CC24:2447 (talk) 21:09, 11 May 2023 (UTC)
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Remove the following templates: Non-Aligned Movement (only links to "[MEMBER] and the Non-Aligned Movement" pages like India and the Non-Aligned Movement) and Journeys of Paul the Apostle (template links to Roman Syria). 2600:8800:590E:BB00:ADFC:913B:A194:49 (talk) 23:33, 19 May 2023 (UTC)
Syria is a presidential state as per the 2012 Constitution. It grants unchecked powers to President de jure. A citation from Assad government is Unreliable, since it is either propaganda and/or it doesnt understand the difference between semi-presidential and presidential systems.
Presidential vs semi-presidential system
In a presidential system, the head of government is directly or indirectly elected by a group of citizens and is not responsible to the legislature, and the legislature cannot dismiss the president.
semi presidential states differs from the presidential system in that the cabinet, although named by the president, is responsible to the legislature, which may force the cabinet to resign through a motion of no confidence
Keeping in mind that Syria is ruled as a de-facto presidential dictatorship, Assad government is also a de-jure presidential republic with a highly powerful presidency, as shall be demonstrated below.
The constitutional reform was not the result of dialogue with the revolutionary forces, but a unilateral strategy by the regime for the purpose of retaining power... The 2012 constitution introduced a package of reforms that failed to favour the democratisation of the state, but instead strengthened the authoritarian system and left intact the enormous power held by the president... The president appoints his deputies and vice-president (article 91), the prime minister, ministers and deputy ministers (article 97), as well as supervising the implementation of all state policy (article 98). Furthermore, he may assume legislative authority when the People’s Council is not in session. The president has the power to dissolve the People’s Council (article 111), propose legislation (article 112) and veto laws (article 100). In addition, in his function as commander in chief of the army and armed forces (article 105), he can make decisions regarding military power, declaring war and concluding peace agreements (article 102)... the constitution allows the current president to carry on in power after his mandate has expired if no new head of state is elected (article 87)[1]
Atleast 21 articles in Constitution are assessed by legal experts and Syrian activists to have bestowed unrestrained powers on the Presidency, to the point that a transition process is unfeasible:
From January through May, in five workshops and additional consultations, the Syrian participants in the discussions agreed that, if the current constitutional order remains unchanged and the transitional “governing body with full executive powers” is left on its own, without checks and balances, the transitional powers are likely to be abused, and the transition is likely to fail. The group concluded that, if the negotiations resulted in an agreement on amending the current constitution, then at the very least, some of the 21 constitutional articles granting unchecked powers to the president of the republic must be amended, more than 20 emergency decrees repealed, the emergency courts abolished, and a declaration of constitutional principles adopted to guide the transition.[2]
The provisions in the 2012 Constitution explicitly allow the President to dismiss the People's Assembly (parliament), the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers as per his discretion. Moreover, the Constitution is explicit that the Council of Ministers is responsible to the President, not the other way around. Other powers granted to the President include the direct control of the military and its operations. The 2012 Constitution also states that the President can assume legislative authority all by himself even during parliamentary sessions, in addition to reject the laws passed by the People's Assembly. It should be noted that the parliament is a de-facto rubber stamp of the Ba'ath party. I shall next quote some of these provisions that entrenches the absolute authority of the President in the Constitution.
Article 97 – President of the Republic shall name the Prime Minister, his deputies, ministers and their deputies, accept their resignation and dismiss them from office.
Article 98 – President of the Republic lays down the general policy of the state and oversees its implementation.
Article 99 – President of the Republic might call the Council of Ministers to a meeting chaired by him; and might ask for reports from the Prime Minister and the ministers.
Article 100 – The President of the Republic shall pass the laws approved by the People's Assembly. He might also reject them through a justified decision within one month of these laws being received by the Presidency
Article 101 – President of the Republic shall pass decrees, decisions and order
Article 102 - President of the Republic declares war, calls for general mobilization and concludes peace agreements
Article 103 – President of the Republic declares the state of emergency
Articles 105 – President of the Republic is the Commander in Chief of the army and armed forces; and he issues all the decisions necessary to exercise this authority
Article 106 - President of the Republic appoints civilian and military employees and ends their services
Article 107 - President of the Republic concludes international treaties and agreements and revokes them
Article 111 – President of the Republic might decide to dissolve the People's Assembly in a justified decision he makes
Article 113 – President of the Republic assumes the authority of legislation when the People's Assembly is not in session, or during sessions if absolute necessity requires this, or in the period during which the Assembly is dissolved
Article 114 – "If a grave danger and a situation threatening national unity.. President of the Republic might take the quick measures"
Article 115 – The President of the Republic might set up special bodies, councils and committees whose tasks and mandates are set out in the decisions taken to create them.
Article 116 – President of the Republic might call for a referendum on important issues
Article 121 – Prime Minister, his deputies and the ministers shall be responsible before the President of the Republic
Article 124 – President of the Republic has the right to refer the Prime Minister, his deputies and the ministers to the courts for any crimes any of them commits while in office or because of such crimes
Article 133 – Supreme Judicial Council is headed by the President of the Republic[3]
As shown above, the Syrian Presidency constitutionally has unchecked powers over all 3 branches, the executive, legislature and judiciary and even beyond legal constitutional structures. Countries with far lesser Presidential powers and oversight are regarded as Presidential systems. (eg: United States and Turkey) Thus, Syria is governed explicitly as a Presidential state per its 2012 Constitution. ~~ shadowwarrior8 (talk) 12:52, 3 May 2023 (UTC)
References
Greetings - Today I added 1981 in Syria and am inviting interested editors to expand content.
For the "Births" section, below are entries do not have Wikipedia articles so feel free to write any of these.
For the "Deaths", after searching I cannot find any entries so I did not add the secction.
I'm posting this information at both the WikiProject talk and the Syria talk. Regards, JoeNMLC (talk) 19:35, 4 July 2023 (UTC)
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Typo: "Aleppo,Homs" in main section of the article. 2A02:1810:363D:6700:E813:9850:7A8E:2471 (talk) 08:56, 8 September 2023 (UTC)
there are secular and multi religious opposition groups that operate against Assad and this purpurates the Syrian regimes propaganda about the Syrian opposition. This in the Current political situation 2011 to present of the article. Monochromemelo1 (talk) 13:16, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
"As of 2023, Turkey was continuing its support for various militias within Syria, consisting mostly of the YPG/YPJ, which periodically attempted some operations against Kurdish groups."
This sentence makes no sense - the YPG/YPJ are the Kurdish fighting units which Turkey is attacking. One possible correction:
"As of 2023, Turkey was continuing its support for various militias within Syria, which periodically attempted some operations against Kurdish groups consisting mostly of the YPG/YPJ." Rachelwearsshoes (talk) 22:44, 19 October 2023 (UTC)
I do believe that in the government section of the infobox, the "hereditary" should be removed, as pro-Assad sentiment is still high in Syria, and if there were elections under the auspices of the United Nations-led political process and ones that adhere to standards for free and fair elections would result in a very likely win by Assad, making it in someway inaccurate.
I'm open to debate this. Smint34 (talk) 00:34, 21 November 2023 (UTC)