ABSTRACT
Syria is bounded on the North by Turkey, on the East by Iraq, on the Southeast by Jordan on the Southwest by Israel and Jordan and the West by Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea. The chief cities are Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs, all aligned more or less in a meridional arc on the western side of the country. Syria is an ancient country of Asia that once included modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. There is evidence of human inhabitation for several thousand years from mid-3rd millennium B.C. that has been under the control variously of Sumerians, Akkadians, Amorites, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. “International pressure on the Asad regime intensified after late 2011, as the Arab League, the EU, Turkey, and the US expanded economic sanctions against the regime and those entities that support it. In December 2012, the Syrian National Coalition, was recognized by more than 130 countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
