Syria: GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHY



Location: Syria is located in southwestern Asia, at the eastern end

of the Mediterranean Sea, with Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east,

Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the west.



Size: Syria is about the size of North Dakota, with a total land area

of 185,180 square kilometers (184,050 square kilometers of land and

1,130 square kilometers of water), including 1,295 square kilometers of Israeli-occupied territory.



Land Boundaries: Syria’s land boundaries total 2,253 kilometers with the bordering nations of Iraq (605 kilometers), Israel (76 kilometers), Jordan (375 kilometers), Lebanon (375 kilometers), and Turkey (822 kilometers).



Disputed Territory: Territory disputed by Syria includes 1,295 square kilometers of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. A portion of the Golan Heights also is claimed by Lebanon. In addition, the Syrian government has never recognized the legality of Turkey’s possession of Hatay Province, which was the Syrian province of Iskenderun until France ceded it to Turkey in 1939. Diversion of water from the Euphrates River for dams is a continuing source of conflict between Syria and both Turkey and Iraq.



Length of Coastline: Syria has 193 kilometers of coastline along the Mediterranean Sea.



Maritime Claims: Syria claims 12 nautical miles of territorial sea and a contiguous zone of 41 nautical miles.



Topography: In the west, a narrow coastal plain stretches south from the Turkish border to Lebanon. It is divided by a double band of mountains from the large eastern region, primarily a semiarid to arid plateau that encompasses mountain ranges, desert areas, and the Euphrates River basin. In the northwest, the Jabal an Nusayriyah mountain range, with peaks averaging 1,212 meters, runs parallel to the coastal plain, terminating just north of the Lebanese border. The Anti-Lebanon Mountains run south along the length of that border and have peaks of more than 2,700 meters. The Homs Gap, a small opening between the two mountain ranges, has served as a centuries-old trade and invasion route from the coast to the interior of the country. The high volcanic region of Jabal al Arab in the far south is the home of the country’s Druze population. A low chain of mountains extending northeastward from the Jabal al Arab to the Euphrates River intersects Syria’s expansive eastern plateau region. The barren desert region south of these mountains is called the Hamad. Northeast of the Euphrates River is the fertile Jazirah region.



Principal Rivers: The Euphrates River, originating in the mountains of Turkey and flowing diagonally southeastward across Syria into Iraq, is Syria’s longest and most important river, providing 80 percent of Syria’s water resources. Its left-bank tributaries, the Balikh and the Khabur, are both major rivers also originating in Turkey, but its right-bank tributaries are small seasonal streams called wadis. The Barada River, rising in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in the southwest and disappearing into the desert, creates the Al Ghutah Oasis, the verdant site enabling Damascus to prosper since ancient times. In the northwest, the Orontes River irrigates the Al Ghab depression, a fertile, intermountain plateau region east of the coastal mountains.



Climate: The striking feature of the Syrian climate is the contrast between sea and desert. A semiarid steppe zone extends across about three-quarters of the country between the humid Mediterranean coast in the west and the arid desert regions to the south and east. The steppe experiences fairly abundant rainfall, with annual precipitation ranging between 750 and 1,000 millimeters, mostly falling between November and May. Annual mean temperatures range from 7.2° C in January to 26.6° C in August. The area east of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, including Damascus, has precipitation averaging less than 200 millimeters a year and temperatures ranging from 4.4° C in January to 37.7° C in July and August.



Natural Resources: Syria has deposits of petroleum; natural gas; phosphates; chrome, iron, and manganese ores; asphalt; rock salt; marble; and gypsum. It also has hydropower resources, although operation of Syria’s Euphrates Dam has been hampered by Turkey’s diversion of water from the upper Euphrates for several dams of its own. Syria’s use of the Euphrates in turn impedes water flow into Iraq.



Land Use: Depending on the source consulted, 25–32 percent of Syria’s land area is classified as arable, and 4.4 percent was planted to permanent crops in 2001. An estimated 12,130 square kilometers were irrigated in 1998. The government has undertaken major irrigation projects in the north and northeast with the goal of increasing irrigated farmland from about 20 percent to more than 38 percent of the total in the coming decade.

Environmental Factors: Syria’s major environmental issues include deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, water pollution from the dumping of raw sewage and wastes from petroleum refining, and inadequate supplies of potable water. Water shortages, exacerbated by population growth, industrial expansion, and water pollution, are a significant long-term constraint on economic development. Dust storms and sandstorms are natural hazards in desert areas.



Time Zone: Greenwich Mean Time plus two hours.