What is syria known for

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Palestine is a small region of land that has played a prominent role in the ancient and modern history of the Middle East. The history of Palestine has been marked by frequent political conflict and violent land seizures because of its importance to several major world The nation of Israel—with a population of more than 9 million people, most of them Jewish—has many Following years of diplomatic friction and skirmishes between Israel and its neighbors, Israel Defense Forces launched preemptive air strikes that Over time, the PLO has embraced a broader role, claiming to On October 6, , hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, in , Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Taking the Israeli Defense Forces by Zionism is a religious and political effort that brought thousands of Jews from around the world back to their ancient homeland in the Middle East and reestablished Israel as the central location for Jewish identity.

While some critics call Zionism an aggressive and The events in these nations generally began in the spring of , which led to the name. However, the political First settled in the seventh century B. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Ancient Syria Modern-day Syria, a country located in the Middle East on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the most ancient inhabited regions on Earth.

Recommended for you. How the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Began. History Uncut: Terry Anderson Released Palestine Palestine is a small region of land that has played a prominent role in the ancient and modern history of the Middle East. Yom Kippur War On October 6, , hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, in , Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

UN war crimes investigators have accused all parties of perpetrating "the most heinous violations". The government has regained control of Syria's biggest cities, but large parts of the country are still held by rebels, jihadists and the Kurdish-led SDF. The last remaining opposition stronghold is in the north-western province of Idlib and adjoining parts of northern Hama and western Aleppo provinces.

The region is dominated by a jihadist alliance called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham HTS , but is also home to mainstream rebel factions. An estimated 2. In March , Russia and Turkey brokered a ceasefire to halt a push by the government to retake Idlib.

There has been a relative calm since then, but it could break down at any moment. In the country's north-east, Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels launched an offensive against the SDF in October to create a "safe zone" clear of Kurdish YPG militia along the Syrian side of the border, and have occupied a km 75 miles long stretch since. To halt the assault the SDF struck a deal with the Syrian government that saw the Syrian army return to the Kurdish-administered region for the first time in seven years.

The government has vowed to eventually regain full control of it. It does not look like it will anytime soon, but everyone agrees a political solution is required. Nine rounds of UN-mediated peace talks - known as the Geneva II process - failed to make progress, with President Assad apparently unwilling to negotiate with political opposition groups that insist he must step down as part of any settlement.

Russia, Iran and Turkey set up parallel political talks known as the Astana process in An agreement was reached the following year to form a member committee to write a new constitution, leading to free and fair elections supervised by the UN. But in January , UN special envoy Geir Pedersen lamented that they had not even begun drafting any reforms.

Mr Pedersen also noted that, with five foreign armies active in Syria, the international community could not pretend the solutions to the conflict were only in the hands of the Syrians. Image source, Reuters. How did the Syrian war start? Image source, AFP. How many people have died? Who's involved? How has the country been affected? Who is in control of the country now? It gained independence as a republic in A series of military coups from onward repeatedly undermined civilian rule, and between and , Syria was merged with Egypt in a dictatorship known as the United Arab Republic.

In , Syria again gained independence, becoming the Syrian Arab Republic, and after another series of coups, Ba'athist factions came to dominate the government. In , then Minister of Defense Hazef al-Assad seized power in a bloodless military coup. Assad ousted civilian party leadership and became prime minister. Assad governed with an iron first, with little tolerance for opposition, until his death in Assad's son Bashar succeeded Hazef, having been elected president in a referendum in which he was the only candidate.

He received 97 percent of the vote. Bashar Assad was trained as an ophthalmologist, but was catapulted into politics when his brother Basil died in a car accident in During the "Damascus Spring" -- immediately following Bashar Assad's ascension in -- there was a period of moderate reform. Hundreds of political prisoners were released, and independent newspapers were published for the first time in 30 years.

But before long, public political meetings and press independence were again restricted, and some journalists, human rights activists and dissidents were imprisoned.