Factbook
Histoire de Syrie — Chronologie
Dates clés de l'histoire de Syrie, d'après le Factbook Magna et l'Encyclopédie universelle.
1946Independence: 17 April 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration).
1946The French administered the area until granting it independence in 1946.
1958Syria united with Egypt in 1958 to form the United Arab Republic.
1961In 1961, the two entities separated, and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished.
1967In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost control of the Golan Heights region to Israel.
1970In 1970, Hafiz al-ASAD, a member of the socialist Ba'ath Party and the minority Alawi sect, seized power in a bloodless coup and brought political stability to the country.
1976Syrian troops that were stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in an ostensible peacekeeping role were withdrawn in 2005.
2000Following the death of al-ASAD, his son, Bashar al-ASAD, was approved as president by popular referendum in 2000.
2006During the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah, Syria placed its military forces on alert but did not intervene directly on behalf of its ally Hizballah.
2007In 2007, Bashar al-ASAD's second term as president was again approved in a referendum.
2011In the wake of major uprisings elsewhere in the region, antigovernment protests broke out in the southern province of Dar'a in 2011.
2011International pressure on the Syrian Government intensified after 2011, as the Arab League, the EU, Turkey, and the US expanded economic sanctions against the ASAD regime and those entities that supported it.
2012In 2012, more than 130 countries recognized the Syrian National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
2015In 2015, Russia launched a military intervention on behalf of the ASAD regime, and domestic and foreign-government-aligned forces recaptured swaths of territory from opposition forces.
2016Since 2016, Turkey has conducted three large-scale military operations to capture territory along Syria's northern border.
2017The violent extremist organization Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the Nusrah Front) emerged in 2017 as the predominant opposition force in Idlib Province, and still dominates an area also hosting Turkish forces.
2018Some opposition forces organized under the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army and Turkish forces have maintained control of northwestern Syria along the Turkish border with the Afrin area of Aleppo Province since 2018.
2019Military spending: 6.5% of GDP (2019 est.).
2020With foreign support, the regime continued to periodically regain opposition-held territory until 2020, when Turkish firepower halted a regime advance and forced a stalemate between regime and opposition forces.
2022Approximately 6.7 million Syrians were internally displaced as of 2022, and 14.6 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance across the country.
2022Negotiations have failed to produce a resolution to the conflict, and the UN estimated in 2022 that at least 306,000 people have died during the civil war.
2023Generation mix — fossil fuels: 95.6% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); solar: 0.5% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); hydroelectricity: 3.8% of total installed capacity (2023 est.) Energy use: 13.569 million Btu/person (2023 est.).
2023Industries: petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, oil seeds crushing, automobile assembly Agriculture: wheat, barley, milk, sheep milk, tomatoes, olives, potatoes, maize, oranges, grapes (2023) Electricity access: 89% (2022 est.).
2023Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French, English Religions: Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%), Christian 10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian), Druze 3% Urban population: 57.4% of total population (2023).
2023Major urban areas: 2.585 million DAMASCUS (capital), 2.203 million Aleppo, 1.443 million Hims (Homs), 996,000 Hamah (2023) low-income Middle Eastern economy; prior infrastructure and economy devastated by 11-year civil war; ongoing US sanctions; sporadic trans-migration during conflict; currently being supported by World Bank trust fund; ongoing hyperinflation Inflation: 94.1% (2022 est.).
2024On 8 December 2024, Syrian Islamist rebels captured the capital city of Damascus and overthrew President Bashar al-ASAD.
2025Population: 24.3 million (2025 estimate).
