🇸🇾

Flag of Syria

Asia

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Quick Facts

Capital
Damascus
Flag adopted
1980
Population
25,620,000
Area
185,180 km²
Languages
Arabic
Currency
Syrian pound (£) — SYP
Demonym
Syrian
Government
transitional presidential republic
Subregion
Western Asia
Driving side
Right
Timezones
UTC+02:00
Independence
1946

Religions

  • Muslim 87%
  • Christian 10%
  • Druze 3%

About This Flag

The flag of Syria consists of three equal horizontal bands of red on top, white in the middle, and black on the bottom, with two green five-pointed stars centered on the white band. The colors are pan-Arab colors: red represents the Hashemite dynasty and the struggle for independence, white symbolizes the Umayyad dynasty and a peaceful future, black represents the Abbasid dynasty and the country's colonial past, and the green stars originally represented Egypt and Syria during their union as the United Arab Republic (1958-1961).

Though the union dissolved, the two-star design was readopted in 1980. The flag's history is politically complex, with different factions using different flags during the Syrian civil war.

What the colors & design mean

Red symbolizes the struggle and sacrifice for freedom. White represents a peaceful and bright future. Black signifies the dark colonial past. The two green stars originally represented Egypt and Syria during the United Arab Republic period.

red white black green

Pattern: Horizontal Stripes

Bordering countries (5)

🇮🇶 Iraq 🇮🇱 Israel 🇯🇴 Jordan 🇱🇧 Lebanon 🇹🇷 Turkey

Fun Facts

  • Syria, Egypt, and Iraq have all used variations of the same red-white-black tricolor with green stars or script, reflecting repeated attempts at pan-Arab political union throughout the 20th century.
  • During the Syrian civil war, opposition groups revived the green-white-black 'independence flag' of 1932-1958, creating a situation where two different flags represented competing claims to legitimacy.
  • Damascus, the capital, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back to at least the 3rd millennium BC.
  • The two green stars on the current flag originally symbolized Egypt and Syria's 1958 union, and were retained even after Syria withdrew from the United Arab Republic in 1961.

Similar looking flags

These flags share similar colors and patterns:

🇸🇾 Kenya 🇸🇾 Libya 🇸🇾 Sudan 🇸🇾 Iraq 🇸🇾 Jordan

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