16
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 66
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 10
under 914 m: 54 (2004 est.)

Heliports:
7 (2004 est.)

Military Syria

Military branches:
Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Navy, Syrian Arab Air Force (includes
Air Defense Command), Police and Security Force

Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service
obligation - 30 months (2004)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 4,356,413 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 3,453,888 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 225,113 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$858 million (FY00 est.); note - based on official budget data that
may understate actual spending

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
5.9% (FY00)

Transnational Issues Syria

Disputes - international:
Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied with the almost 1,000-strong UN
Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) patrolling a buffer zone since
1964; Lebanon claims Shaba'a farms in Golan Heights; international
pressure prompts the removal of Syrian troops and intelligence
personel stationed in Lebanon since October 1976; Syria protests
Turkish hydrological projects regulating upper Euphrates waters;
2004 Agreement and pending demarcation settles border dispute with
Jordan

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 413,827 (Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA))
IDPs: 170,000 (most displaced from Golan Heights during 1967
Arab-Israeli War) (2004)

Illicit drugs:
a transit point for opiates and hashish bound for regional and
Western markets; weak anti-money-laundering controls, bank
privatization may leave it vulnerable to money-laundering

This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005

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@Taiwan

Introduction Taiwan

Background:
In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan.
Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the
Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists
fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1946
constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades,
the ruling authorities gra