daries: 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

_*_People
_#_Population: 12,965,996 (July 1991), growth rate 3.8% (1991);
in addition, there are at least 12,000 Druze and 13,000 Jewish settlers
in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (1990 est.)

_#_Birth rate: 43 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 37 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 71 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 6.7 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Syrian(s); adjective--Syrian

_#_Ethnic divisions: Arab 90.3%; Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7%

_#_Religion: Sunni Muslim 74%, Alawite, Druze, and other Muslim
sects 16%, Christian (various sects) 10%, tiny Jewish communities in
Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo

_#_Language: Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic,
Circassian; French widely understood

_#_Literacy: 64% (male 78%, female 51%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)

_#_Labor force: 2,400,000; miscellaneous and government services 36%,
agriculture 32%, industry and construction 32%; majority unskilled;
shortage of skilled labor (1984)

_#_Organized l