Total area: 185,180 km2
land area: 184,050 km2 (including 1,295 km2 of Israeli-occupied territory)

Comparative area: slightly larger than North Dakota

Land boundaries: 2,253 km total
Iraq 605 km, Israel 76 km, Jordan 375 km, Lebanon 375 km, Turkey 822 km

Coastline: 193 km

Maritime claims: Contiguous zone: 6 nm beyond territorial sea limit
Territorial sea: 35 nm

Disputes: separated from Israel by the 1949 Armistice Line; Golan Heights is Israeli occupied; Hatay question with Turkey; periodic disputes with Iraq over Euphrates water rights; ongoing dispute over water development plans by Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR

Climate: mostly desert; hot, dry, sunny summers (June to August) and mild, rainy winters (December to February) along coast

Terrain: primarily semiarid and desert plateau; narrow coastal plain; mountains in west

Natural resources: crude oil, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum

Land use: arable land 28%; permanent crops 3%; meadows and pastures 46%; forest and woodland 3%; other 20%; includes irrigated 3%

Environment: deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification

Note: there are 38 Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights

NOTE: The information regarding Syria on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Syria Geography 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Syria Geography 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.