什麼是敍利亞

正式名稱敍利亞阿拉伯共和國（Syrian Arab Republic）

南亞國家，位於地中海東岸。面積185,180平方公里。人口約16,729,000（2001）。首都︰大馬士革。阿拉伯人是主要種族，庫爾德人是最大的少數民族。語言︰阿拉伯語（官方語）、法語、庫爾德語、亞美尼亞語、英語。宗教︰伊斯蘭教（遜尼派、阿拉維派和德魯士派）、基督教（少數）。貨幣︰敍利亞鎊（LS）。敍利亞的地形有沿海地帶，水資源豐沛；包含前黎巴嫩山脈的山區；和敍利亞沙漠的一部分。幼發拉底河是最重要的水源也是唯一有航運之利的河流。經濟是以農業、貿易、礦業和製造業為基礎的混合經濟。農作物包括了棉花、穀物、水果、煙草和畜產品。礦產資源有石油、天然氣和鐵礦；製造業包括了紡織、水泥和製鞋。政府形式是共和國，一院制。國家元首暨政府首腦是總統，並且必須是穆斯林。法律系統主要以伊斯蘭法為基礎。

敍利亞有居民的歷史已達數千年。從西元前3千紀起，它在不同時期分別處於蘇美人、阿卡德人、阿莫里特人、埃及人、西台人、亞述人和巴比倫尼亞人的統治之下。西元前6世紀，它成為波斯阿契美尼德王朝的一部分，西元前330年該王朝落入亞歷山大大帝手中。西元前301～西元前164年前後，塞琉西王國的統治者們控制了它；然後是安息人和納巴泰人瓜分了這個地區。在成為羅馬的一個省（西元前64～西元300年）和拜占庭帝國（300～634）的一部分而繁榮起來，直到穆斯林入侵併建立統治。1516年它歸於鄂圖曼帝國，除了被埃及短暫統治外，鄂圖曼帝國一直控制着它直到第一次世界大戰中英國入侵。大戰結束後，它成了法國的託管區；1944年實現獨立。1958～1961年間它在阿拉伯聯合共和國中與埃及聯合。在六日戰爭期間，它將戈蘭高地輸給了以色列。1980年代和1990年代，敍利亞的軍隊經常在黎巴嫩與以色列的軍隊發生衝突。阿塞德漫長和嚴酷的統治還表現在與敍利亞的鄰國土耳其和伊拉克的對抗。

Syria

Country, South Asia, eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Area: 71,498 sq mi (185,180 sq km). Population (2000 est.): 16,306,000. Capital: Damascus. Arabs are the main ethnic group, with Kurds the largest minority. Languages: Arabic (official), French, Kurdish, Armenian, English. Religions: Islam (Sunni, Alawi, Druze), Christianity (minority). Currency: Syrian pound. Syria consists of a coastal zone, with abundant water supplies; a mountain zone that includes the Anti-Lebanon Mountains; and a portion of the Syrian Desert. The Euphrates River is its most important water source and only navigable river. It has a mixed economy based on agriculture, trade, and mining and manufacturing. Crops include cotton, cereals, fruits, tobacco, and livestock. Mineral resources include petroleum, natural gas, and iron ore; manufactures include textiles, cement, and shoes. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and of government is the president, who by law must be a Muslim. The legal system is based largely on Islamic law. Syria has been inhabited for several thousand years. From the 3rd millennium BC, it has been under the control variously of Sumerians, Akkadians, Amorites, Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, and Babylonians. In the 6th century BC it became part of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty, which fell to Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Seleucid rulers governed it 301-c. 164 BC; then Parthians and Nabataean Arabs divided the region. It flourished as a Roman province (64 BC-AD 300) and as part of the Byzantine empire (300-634), until Muslims invaded and established control. It came under the Ottoman empire in 1516, which held it, except for brief rules by Egypt, until the British invaded in World War I. After the war it became a French mandate; it achieved independence in 1944. It united with Egypt in the United Arab Republic (1958-61). During the Six-Day War (1967), it lost the Golan Heights to Israel. Syrian troops frequently clashed with Israeli troops in Lebanon during the 1980s and '90s. Hafiz al-Assad's long and harsh regime was marked also by antagonism toward Syria's neighbors Turkey and Iraq.