What kind of country is Syria?

Syria is a modest Middle Eastern Arab country that is a secular state with political and economic separation, although the majority of the population follows Islam. Syria has a population of 18,392,000, of which more than 80% are Arabs, with small numbers of other minorities such as Kurds and Turkmen. Eighty-five percent of the Syrian population professes Islam and 14 percent professes Christianity. Among them, 80% are Sunnis and 20% are Shiites, and among the Shiites, 75% are Alawites. The current President Assad is from the Alawite sect. Syria has a land area of 185,180 square kilometers because of the war in 2015 Syria's GDP was $28.393 billion, $1,535 per capita. In the past Syria used to be richer and in the seventies there were a lot of Soviet girls who married Syrian men.

Syria used to be the core of the Arab empire, the current capital of Syria, Damascus, was famous. Historically, Damascus knives were famous all over the world, and even in modern times, the reputation of the fine quality of Damascus military knives is by no means inferior to that of Swiss Army knives. The Middle East itself is the gathering place of the Arabs, who once established the powerful Arab empire. But in the thirteenth century by the western conquest of the Mongols were eliminated, the decline of the Mongols after the Middle East was occupied by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It was not until modern times that Syria became a colony of the European power France, and it was not until 1943 that Syria became truly independent and established its own government.

Arab countries in the Middle East had similar fates after independence, except for some monarchies, which were ruled by politically powerful men like Syria and Iraq, Egypt and Libya. Most of these political strongmen are from the military, have been subjected to Western military influence, generally unlike Saudi Arabia and Iran which engaged in secular regimes. Moreover, when they were young, they participated in politics with the dream of reviving the Great Arabian nation. When the power is in their hands, they monopolize the power to implement personal dictatorship and oppressive rule. Syria merged with Egypt for a time in 1958 for the cause of Greater Arabia, but the two countries separated in 1961 after a short period of time. Bashar al-Assad, who is now Syria's Bashar al-Assad, was born from his father, Bashar al-Assad Sr. Bashar al-Assad, who inherited the presidency from his father, al-Assad the Elder. Interestingly, he was elected in a referendum.

Syria is similar to Iraq under Saddam in that Saddam was a Sunni Islamist, but the majority of the Iraqi population was Shia, a minority ruling the majority. Syria is even more so than Iraq, and is the complete opposite of Saddam's Sunnis, with President Assad being a Shia, and a much smaller number of Shias, Alawites. Alawites make up only 10% of the Syrian population, which can be considered an absolute minority. But it is such a demographic structure that the Assad father-son regime has ruled in Syria for nearly half a century. Although Saddam and Assad's father and son are both Arabs, once for the cause of the great Arab death. But Syria and Iraq have been enemies, and Syria has supported Iran against Iraq during the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran.

In 2011, the United States launched the so-called "Arab Spring", Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gaddafi, these political strongman, for many years has been relying on the military and police dictatorship to maintain state power, in the West instigated a "color revolution" have stepped down. In Syria, too, a large-scale conflict erupted, and the Assad regime was once in a precarious position. Because of the intertwined interests of the big powers in the Middle East, the Assad regime received strong support from Russia's Vladimir Putin in the midst of its struggles. It made the Assad regime turn around and dodged a bullet. With the support of Russia and Iran as well as Shiite forces, Syria has now recovered more than 90% of its territory. Nevertheless, Syria is still riddled with contradictions and sectarianism. The Assad regime, which belongs to the Alawite minority, will find it difficult to achieve national reconciliation, let alone the support of the majority of the population. Syria is now faced with the need for long-term peace and security, because of the serious damage of the war, _ pending post-war reconstruction.