COUNTRY
SyriaPOPULATION
22,530,746 (July 2012 est.)GDP PER CAPITA
$5,100 (2011 est.)RELIGIONS
Sunni Muslim (Islam - official) 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)AT THE CENTER
RELATED RESOURCES
ORGANIZATIONS (6)
Deir Mar Musa Syrian-Catholic Monastery
Jabhat Al-Nusra
National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces
Jabhat Al-Nusra
National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces
QUOTES (7)
Jabhat Al-Nursa on the Religious Affiliation of other Resistance Groups inside Syria
January 8, 2013
Free Syrian Army Colonel Riad al-Assad on Religious Extremism in Syria
October 13, 2012
Burhan Ghalioun on Religious Minorities in Syrian National Council
December 2, 2011
January 8, 2013
Free Syrian Army Colonel Riad al-Assad on Religious Extremism in Syria
October 13, 2012
Burhan Ghalioun on Religious Minorities in Syrian National Council
December 2, 2011
PUBLICATIONS (2)
Syria
People (9)
Syria has been a center of political, cultural, and religious influences for millennia. It hosted the earliest organized Christian church at Antioch, and Damascus became the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century. Contemporary Syria retains much of its religious diversity, with substantial numbers of Christians, a small Jewish community, and a prominent Alawite Shi'a minority coexisting with its majority Sunni population. Under the Ba'ath Party, Syrians have very limited civil and political freedoms, and religious communities operate under significant state surveillance. Nevertheless, religious minorities have been generally supportive of the Ba'ath regime, due in part to its secular character. President Hafez al-Assad (1970-2000) dealt harshly with religious dissent, most notably crushing the Muslim Brotherhood-led revolt in Hama in 1982. His son, Bashar al-Assad, came to power promising reform but stalled in its delivery, and he has faced dramatic challenges to his rule as part of the region-wide wave of protests in 2011 known as the Arab Spring.
Michel Aflaq was the founder of the Ba’athism, a secular political ideology combining elements of Arab-nationalism and socialism that influenced the Syrian and Iraqi Ba’ath regimes. A Greek Orthodox raised in Damascus, Aflaq became involved in Arab-nationalist politics while studying in Paris. In 1954Aflaq and his friend Salah al-Bitar, a Syrian Muslim, established the Ba’ath Party, which rose to power in Syria in a bloodless coup in 1963. Despite the political success of the Ba’ath party,...
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has governed Syria since his father Hafez al-Assad’s death in 2000. He is the leader of Syria’s secular Ba’ath political party and a member of Syria’s Alawite Shia Muslim minority; as such, he has declared his commitment to secularism and deemed religious extremism the greatest threat to Syrian security. His government routinely imprisons Sunni citizens with ties to Islamist movements, and Islamist political parties are banned. However, his government...
Hafez al-Assad served as president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. A member of Syria’s Alawite Shia Muslim minority and the secular Ba’ath party, Hafez enjoyed the support of Syria’s Alawi, Druze, and Christian minorities, which hoped al-Assad’s secular government would ensure their religious rights in Sunni-majority Syria. Al-Assad promoted a secular-nationalist agenda, emphasizing Arab-nationalism and banning “Salafist” Islamic political parties and the Muslim Brotherhood. In...
Ali al-Bayanouni is the former leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. He was exiled for over two decades, residing in Jordan from 1979 to 2000, when he went to London after Jordanian officials asked him to leave. Bayanouni advocates non-violence and democracy, and sees the Muslim Brotherhood as representative of a Muslim mainstream in Syria not tied to more hard-line Salafis. He has reportedly met with US officials and other Syrian opposition leaders to discuss the possibilities for...
Burhan Ghalioun was head of the Syrian National Council from August 2011 to June 2012. Born in Homs, Burhan Ghalioun obtained a PhD in social science from University of Paris VIII and later became a sociology professor in University of Paris III. From France, Burhan Ghalioun became a public critic of Hafez Assad’s regime in Syria, publishing opposition pamphlets and helping to organize the Arab Organization of Human Rights. While head of the Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun received...
Dr. Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun has been the Grand Mufti of Syria, serving as Syria's top Sunni cleric, since 2005. Born in Aleppo in 1949, he studied at Al-Azhar University, has taught at several Syrian universities, and served twice in the Syrian parliament. In October 2011, his 21-year-old son died in an ambush the Syrian government blamed on terrorism. Hassoun has remained a firm supporter of President Bashar al-Assad during the recent conflict in Syria. He is a longtime advocate of...
Former vice president of Syria, Abdul Halim Khaddam was a major figure in the Ba’th party for over 30 years, serving under both Hafez and Bashar al-Assad. A Sunni Muslim in a largely Alawi cabinet, Kaddam held a reputation as a hardliner. In 2004, Khaddam defected from the party and resigned from his vice president position, citing the regime’s resistance to reform. After his resignation, he fled to Paris, where he has lived in exile since 2005. Khaddam is one of the most vocal critics of...
George Sabra is the current Chairman of the Syrian National Council. Born to a Christian family in 1947, George Sabra has played an active role in political government opposition since 1970 when he joined the Syrian Communist Party. In 1985, Sabra was elected to the Syrian Communist Party’s Central Committee, and also represented the Communist Party in the National Democratic Assembly, a coalition of Syrian leftist parties. In 2005, Sabra co-founded the Damascus Declaration that demanded...
Abdulbaset Sieda is the former chairman of the Syrian National Council (SNC). A former Kurdish activist, Abdulbaset Sieda was elected in June 2012 after complaints that the Syrian National Council was ignoring Syria’s religious minorities. Abdulbaset Sieda attempted to strengthen ties between the SNC and the Alawite, Sunni, Kurd, Christian and Druze minorities. Sieda also increased SNC cooperation with the Free Syrian Army and repeatedly called upon the international community to directly...