Wikipedia:WikiProject Syria

Syria (Arabic: سُورِيَا, romanized: Sūriyā; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north and northwest, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest. It is a republic under a provisional government and comprises 14 governorates. Damascus is the capital and largest city. With a population of 26 million across an area of 185,180 square kilometres (71,500 sq mi), it is the 56th-most populous and 87th-largest country. Syria traces its name to the Roman province of Syria. Under Arab rule, it largely became known as Bilad al-Sham province. Syria's capital city, Damascus, was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire. Historically, the region of Syria has often included the territories of Lebanon, Palestine, parts of Turkey and Jordan, but excluded the Jazira region in the northeast of the modern Syrian state. The modern state of Syria was formed during the period of the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon and attained independence from the French mandate of Syria in 1946. The post-independence period was tumultuous, with multiple coups and coup attempts between 1949 and 1971. In 1958, Syria entered a brief pan-Arab union with Egypt, which was terminated following a 1961 coup d'état. The 1963 coup d'état established a one-party Ba'athist state in Syria, which remained under authoritarian rule for decades. After internal coups in 1966 Syrian coup d'état and the Corrective Movement, Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970 and was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad in 2000. Following the Arab Spring, Syria descended into the Syrian civil war, causing a major refugee crisis and attracting foreign intervention. In late 2024, opposition offensives captured Damascus and led to the fall of the Assad regime. In March 2025, the Syrian transitional government replaced the Syrian caretaker government under new Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The main goals of this WikiProject are to:

• Improve and maintain Syria-related articles: fact and prose checking, expanding and ensuring currency of information, providing reliable citations and references, maintaining a NPOV, bringing more selected articles up to Featured article or Good article status;
• Expand Wikipedia's coverage of Syria-related topics: check for completeness of articles, start new articles, expand entries on neglected subjects;
• Maintaining consistency in article organization: maintaining a similar structure, coverage and presentation across articles, maintaining categories and links;
• Develop tools and resources for others to use in article production: templates, categories, infoboxes, diagrams, base maps, useful and commonly used references;
• Coordinating collaborations: between editors to establish priorities and avoid duplication of effort, gaining consensus on disputed issues.
• Develop the subject's site map: the Outline of Syria is intended to map out Wikipedia's coverage of Syria, providing a convenient navigation aid to visiting the many articles about Syria, by providing links to those articles or the lists which include them. This navigation system is useful to both readers and editors. It helps readers see what is available, and it helps editors see the gaps that need to be filled and identify problems in existing articles. (And by using "Related changes", it serves as an extensive watchlist).

The scope of this WikiProject includes Syrian-related articles, lists, categories, and templates.

Items within this scope can be grouped under the following high-level topics or themes:

• Syrian Geography – regions, locations, natural history, environment, vegetable and mineral resources, climate, hydrology, geology
• Syrian Archeology – chronologies, structures, monuments, pottery and other artifacts
• Syrian History – by time periods, by civilization, of events, of individuals, historical documents
• Syrian Cultures and Civilizations – descriptions of the peoples and their locations, histories, polities, interactions, accomplishments, society, beliefs, influences, continuity of heritage to the preset day
• Syrian Languages – languages related to Syria, their phonology, typology, grammar etc.
• Syrian Society – cultural practices, polities and governance, social structures and order, commerce and trade, education, warfare, costume and dress, gender roles, population trends
• Syrian People – biographies of notable personages, rulers, roles and titles, (includes also notable non-Syrian figures related to Syria)
• Syrian Arts – visual arts and decorative styles, iconography, media, cross-cultural influences, music, dance
• Syrian Mythology and Religion – religions, beliefs, philosophies, mythologies, rituals and ceremonies
• Projects with related or overlapping scope include: Wikipedia:WikiProject Arab world, Wikipedia:WikiProject Assyria, Wikipedia:WikiProject Ancient Near East.

• Syria-related articles up for deletion.

Categories relevant to this Project