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Syria

Nominally a republic, Syria has been ruled by the Baath Party since 1963, and since 1971, the family of Hafiz al-Asad has controlled the party and the state. By quashing opposition and periodically reshuffling powerful elites, Asad and his son Bashar, who succeeded him in 2000, have been able to stay in power.

The Syrian regime sees itself as the keeper of the Arab nationalist flame, historically evidenced by the pan-Arab ideology of the Baath Party, a "rejectionist" stance toward peace agreements concluded with Israel and, often, a confrontational posture toward Washington. Today, the primary marker of this attitude is Syrian backing for Hizballah and its militia, the "Lebanese card" Syria holds in hopes of regaining the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967.

From 1976 until the dramatic spring of 2005, Syrian troops occupied parts of Lebanon following their intervention in the Lebanese civil war. This military presence, justified as a prop for the 1989 Ta'if Agreement that helped end the war, was coupled with substantial interference in Lebanese politics and considerable control of lucrative commerce. After the assassination of Lebanon's ex-Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri and the subsequent outrage directed at Syria, the soldiers left, though Damascus continues to exercise some influence in its neighbor's affairs.

Possibly hundreds of thousands of Syrian workers continue to labor in Lebanon, due to long-standing economic stagnation and meager life opportunities at home. Stagnation is exacerbated by the country's marginalization in international trade, partly because of foreign opposition to the regime's politics, and a sclerotic public sector, which the regime is loath to reform because it provides a crucial job security for citizens and, hence, domestic stability. Poverty and unemployment are rising even as a small, regime-linked business elite prospers. Bashar al-Asad has tried to bring Syria into the European Union's "Barcelona process" of Euro-Mediterranean economic integration, but with disappointing results to date. Defiant of Western suspicions that regime figures were involved in Hariri's killing, Damascus finds its isolation intensifying.

Facts and Figures »