Bashar al-Assad
President

(pronounced "ba-SHARE all ah-SAHD")

"The man who has become president is the same man who was a doctor and an officer and first and foremost is the citizen."

The Syrian Arab Republic covers an area of 184,050 sq km (71,043 sq mi) and is bordered on the north by Turkey, on the east and southeast by Iraq, on the south by Jordan, on the southwest by Israel, and on the west by Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of Syria and its major city is Damascus.

Syria's population was estimated in 2002 at 17.2 million inhabitants, with an annual growth rate of 2.5%. Approximately 74% of the people are Sunni Muslims. Other religious groups include various branches of Shi'ism, Druze, and Christianity. Racially, the Syrians are varied, and except where ethnic distinctions have found religious expression, racial types are generally intermixed. It is estimated...