SYRIA

            SYRIA IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS THE LARGEST SMALL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD INSPITE OF THE FACT THAT IT COVERS ONLY 185, 180. KM, WITH A POPULATION OF 22.000.000 (2007 ESTIMATE). SO WHERE DID THIS DESCRIPTION COME FROM? AND HOW CAN WE SOLVE SUCH A PARADOX? LET US START THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING:

            SYRIA IS THE CRADLE OF THE GREAT ANCIENT CIVILISATION.

IT IS HERE THAT AGRICULTURE BEGAN TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO, WHEN THE SYRIANS SUCCEED IN UNITING WATER WHITH WHEAT, AND IN GETTING THOUSAND OF GRAINS OUT OF ONE GRAIN. HENCE, THE SETTLEMENT COMMENCED, AND CIVILIZATION STARTED (THE SITES OF MREIBIT, JEIROUD, YABROUD …) SYRIA ALSO PRESENTED THE WORLD WITH ANOTHER DISCOVERY, IT WAS HERE THAT COPPER WAS MADE PLIABLE, AND BRONZE WAS INVITED (THE SITE OF TALHALAF). LATER, THE ANCIENT KINGDOMES WERE FORMED (MARI – UGHARIT – EBLA – YAMHAD). ALL THESE WERE ARAB KINGDOMES AND THEIR INHABITANTS SPOKE DIFFERENT DIALECTS OF A LANGUAGE OF ARABIC ORIGIN. THOSE INHABITANTS, KNOWN AS THE AMORITES, OR THE PHOENICIANS OR THE ARAMEANS, OR THE CANAANITTES AND THE GHASSANITES, WHERE THE DESCENDENTS OF THE ARABS WHO IMMIGRATED AGES AGO FROM THE ARAB PENINSULA, AND GAVE SYRIA ITS ARAB IDENTITY.

            THE IMMENSE STARTEGIC IMORTANCE OF SYRIA IS DUE TO ITS UNIQUE POSITION AS THE MEETING POINT OF THE THREE CCONTINENTS, AND AS THE CROSSROAD AMONG THE MEDITERRANEAN, THE INDIAN OCEAN, THE CASPION SEA, THE BLACK SEA AND THE NILE. THROUGH SYRIA LAY THE SILK ROAD WHICH LED FROM CHINA TO THE FIRST SYRIAN STATION , DOURA EUPROPOS ( TAL AS,SALHIYEH) , THEN TO PALMYRA AND HOMS , TO THE SYRIAN PORTS ON THE MEDITERRAANEAN WHICH WAS TURNED BY THE SYRIAN SAILORS INTO ARAB LAKE THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO . THIS GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION LENT DISTINCTION TO THE COUNTRY , NOT ONLY AS A TRADE AND CARAVAN ROAD , BUT ALSO A MEETING – POINT OF THE DIVERSE IDEAS , BELIEFS AND CULTURES. SYRIA CONTAINS REMAINS OF ALL GREAT ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.

            SYRIA, THAT WITNESSED THE DISCOVERY OF AGRICULTURE AND THE CREATION OF ALLOYS, OFFERED HUMANITY THE FIRST ALPHABET IN HISTORY (UGARIT). THE ALPHABET, WITHOUT WHICH MAN COULD HAVE NEVER LEARNT HOW TO WRITE, TO THINK AND TO LIVE AS A TRUE HUMAN BEING.

            WITH THE ISLAMIC CONQUEST (636 A.D) DIMASHQ (DAMASCUS) BECOME THE CAPITAL OF THE OMAYYAD STATE, WICCH STRETCHED FROM THE BORDERS OF CHINA TO SOUTH FRANCE. SINCE THEN, SYRIA HAS RETAINED ITS UNIQUE POSITION IN THE HEART OF THE ARAB ISLAMIC NATION. IT WAS SYRIA THAT DEFENDED THE ARAB NATION AGAINST THE CRUSADES, AND IT IS STILL PRESERVING THE ARAB UNITY AGAINST ALL FORMS OF COLONIALISM AND OCCUPATION BY ALWAYS BEING PRESENT IN THE ARAB AND INTERNATIONAL CIRCLES, THUS DESERVING ITS HISTORICAL AS THE LARGEST SMALL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.