Politics of Syria
- Conventional Long Form Name: Syria Arab Republic
- Capital City: Damascus
- Type of Government: Republic under an Authoritarian Regime
- Date of Independence: 17 April 1946
- National Holiday(s): Independence Day (17 April)
- Chief of State: President Bashar al-Asad
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Wael-al-Halqi
- Executive Branch/Powers: President is approved by the popular referendum for a second sever-year term (no term limits); the president appoints the vice president, prime minister, and deputy prime minister.
- Legislative Branch/Powers: Unicameral People's Assembly or Majlis al-Shaab (250 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms).
- Judicial Branch/Powers: The highest court is Court of Cassation (organized into civil, criminal, religious, and military divisions, each with 3 judges); Supreme Constitutional Court (consists of 4 members). Judge selection and term of office: Court of Cassation judges appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council or SJC, a judicial management body headed by the minister of justice with 7 members including the national president; judge tenure NA; Supreme Constitutional Court judges nominated by the president and appointed by the SJC; judges appointed for 4-year renewable terms.
- Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
- Ambassador to the U.S.: N/A
- Embassy to the U.S.: Washington DC, USA
- Location of consulate(s) in the U.S.: N/A
- U.S. Ambassador: Ambassador Robert Stephen Ford
- Location of the U.S. Embassy: Damascus, Syria
- Location of U.S. Consulate(s): Damascus, Syria
- Representative to the UN: Bashar al-Jafari
- Symbolism of Flag: The band colors derive from the Arab Liberation flag and represent oppression (black), overcome through bloody struggle (red), to be replaced by a bright future (white); identical to the former flag of the United Arab Republic (1958-1961) where the two stars represented the constituent states of Syria and Egypt; the current design dates to 1980. Note: similar to the flag of Yemen, which has a plain white band, Iraq, which has an Arabic inscription centered in the white band, and that of Egypt, which has a gold Eagle of Saladin centered in the white band.
- National Anthem: "Humat ad-Diyar" (Guardians of the Homeland)
- National Symbol(s): Hawk
- International Disputes: Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied with the almost 1,000-strong UN Disengagement Observer Force patrolling a buffer zone since 1964; lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the boundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are unclear with several sections in dispute; since 2000, Lebanon has claimed Shab'a Farms in the Golan Heights; 2004 Agreement and pending demarcation settles border dispute with Jordan.
- Quantity of refugees inside country: 87,741, 499,189
- Country(ies) of origin of refugee: Iraq and Palestinian
- Quantity of Internally Displaced Persons: 6.5 million
- Quantity of Stateless Persons: 221,000
- Current Human Trafficking Issues: Due to Syria's political uprising and violent unrest, hundreds of thousands of Syrians, foreign migrant workers, and refugees have fled the country and are vulnerable to human trafficking; the lack of security and inaccessibility of the majority of the country makes it impossible to conduct a thorough analysis of the ongoing conflict and the scope and magnitude of Syria's human trafficking situation; prior to the uprising, Syria was principally a destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor or sex trafficking; thousands of women - the majority from Indonesia, the Philippines, Somalia, and Ethiopia - were recruited to work as domestic servants but were subsequently subjected to forced labor; Filipina domestic workers continue to be sent to Syria and are vulnerable to forced labor; the Syrian armed forces and opposition forces are using Syrian children in combat and support roles and as human shields; Iraqi women and girls continue to be sexually exploited, and Syrian children still face conditions of forced labor.
- Illicit Drug Trafficking: A transit point for opiates, hashish, and cocaine bound for regional and Western markets; weak anti-money-laundering controls and bank privatization may leave it vulnerable to money laundering.