Location: Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey.
Geography: there are 42 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (August 2005 est.).
Area: total: 185,180 sq km, land: 183,6w0 sq km, water: 1,550 sq km.
Capital:
Damascus.
Industries: petroleum, textiles, food processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock mining, cement, oil seeds crushing, car assembly.
Languages: Arabic (official); Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood.
National Holiday: Independence Day, 17 April (1946)
Currency (Code): Syrian pound (SYP).
Population: 22,530,746 (July 2012 est.)
Labor force: 5.642 million (2011 est.)
note: approximately 19,100 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights (2008 est.)