Youth

There isn’t much hope for the youth in Syria today. There are huge unemployment issues among the youth ages 15-24. The youth counts for 80% of unemployment. Females have a much higher unemployment rate than males. People in Syria are also waiting to get married due to the expense of marriage. A positive look is that Syria is working on getting rid of their national debt. Syria and Russia came to a deal which lessened Syria’s national debt by 80%. Syria’s production of oil has decreased as well.

Richard Street, Nader Kabbani, Yamama Al Oraibi. Responding to Weak Labor Market Conditions Facing Youth:The Case of Syria. August 22, 2006.

.http://www.araburban.org/AUDI/uploads/paper_19.pdf. (January 9, 2012)

Economy of Syria. January 8, 2012.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Syria. (January 9, 2012)

Syria's Protest

A wave of protest, to get their president to resign, started in Syria mid-March following the protest in Tunisia, which started in January 2011. President Bashar al-Assad supposedly sent out his troops on demonstrators. Their acts did not bring down the protestors. The United Nations believes the protests are on the verge of a civil war. Surrounding countries, such as Turkey, Jordan and Russia, who should be supportive of President Bashar al-Assad, have been criticizing the acts of the President. Syria was released from the Arab League due to President Bashar al-Assad’s ideas to strengthen attack on the protesters. On December 19, President Bashar al-Assad allowed Arab spectators into his country. 15o citizen were killed while the spectators were in Syria. “The U.N. estimates the death toll in Syria at 5,000; and estimates of detainees run from 15,000 to 40,000. On Dec. 14, 2011, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on other countries to intervene to help end the bloodshed. Through it all, Mr. Assad’s government has stubbornly clung to the narrative that it is besieged by a foreign plot.”

New York Times.Syria-Protests(2011-). January 6, 2011. News Article Online.

.http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html . (January 7, 2011)

Dancing through Syria

To watch the traditional Syrian dance, click on this link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4d2AFKdGQg

Eaglefromsyria.Syria- Assyrian Folk Dance Group of Khabour in Syria. June 17, 2006. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4d2AFKdGQg ( January 5, 2012)


The Folklore Dance is one of the most traditional dances in Syria. Not only do the men dance, they dance with swords and canes. It is somewhat like the Dabka but not quite.

Folklore Dance in Syria Art of the Past. 2006. http://www.syriatourism.org/index.php?module=subjects&func=viewpage&pageid=2044. (January 5, 2012)

Artist

 Ahmad Elias

Ahmad Elias is a famous Syrian artist. He was born in 1954. Ahmad “graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University, Internal Design in 1981.”

Ahamad Elias-Biography.Artid.2012.http://artid.com/members/ahmadelias/about/ (January 4, 2012)

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Ahmad+Elias&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1206&bih=680&tbm=isch&tbnid=mNx1uQczpDhPbM:&imgrefurl=http://www.artbreak.com/ahmadelias&docid=AwxkYhhj1ZOrnM&imgurl=http://s3.amazonaws.com/artbreak/user_pictures/123039/1_inset.jpg&w=700&h=700&ei=RJMET6HgKZDbiAKEg7CYDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=828&vpy=303&dur=380&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=108&ty=116&sig=110115473274738196956&page=1&tbnh=142&tbnw=140&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Ahmad+Elias&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1206&bih=680&tbm=isch&tbnid=MQKpw4EEqp-yWM:&imgrefurl=http://www.artobolus.com/artists/elias_ahmad_147/index.php%3Fsec%3D184&docid=a-17fvF3-qMaRM&imgurl=http://www.artobolus.com/artists/elias_ahmad_147/elias_ahmad_147_2269_large.jpg&w=720&h=720&ei=bZMET8_2LtHbiAK8yKzFDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=196&vpy=271&dur=1783&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=147&ty=111&sig=110115473274738196956&page=1&tbnh=142&tbnw=127&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0

Nizar Qabbani 

Nizar Qabbani is a famous Syrian poet. His poems were about love, religion, feminism, and Arab nationalism. His first collection of poems were the The Brunette Told Me. He wrote this first set of poems in his college years. His crowds always loved when he preformed.

Click to watch Nizar preform one of his poems

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AMj67Q7RQ0

Nizar Qabbani.January 7, 2012.Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizar_Qabbani.

( January 8, 2011)

Architectural Wonders in Syria

The Umayyad Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in the world. It is located in Damascus. The mosque was most recently restored in 1970. “The mosque holds a shrine which is said to contain the head of John the Baptist, honoured as a prophet by both Christians and Muslims. The head was supposedly found during the excavations for the building of the mosque. The tomb of Saladin stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.” ( Flood, Finbarr Barry 2000) This mosque is Islamic.

 Flood, Finbarr Barry. 2000. The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Meanings of an Umayyad Visual Culture, Leiden; Boston; Koln: Brill. http://www.islamic-architecture.info/WA-SY/WA-SY-001.htm. (January 3, 2012)

Crac des Chevaliers “was constructed in 1031 along the only route from Antioch to Beirut as a military stronghold.” It is one of the most well known castles in the world. “It can accommodate 5000 soldiers with their horses, their equipment and provisions for five years.” (Travel Tamed, October 6, 2011)The castle is located 700m above sea level making it very well protected from enemies.

Crac des Chevaliers, Syria. http://www.atlastours.net/syria/cracdeschevaliers.html (January 3, 2012)

Travel Tamed. Top 10 Places to Visit in Syria. October 6, 2011 http://traveltamed.com/places-to-visit-in-syria/ (January 3, 2012)

“Seleucus Nicator, the first Seleucid king in Syria,” constructed Apamea in 300 BC.(Apamea, 2011) It is located on the Orontes River bank. In the 12^th century the city was ruined by an earthquake. Although much of the city fell to ruins there is plenty to still see.

Apamea. Famous Wonders. 2011. http://famouswonders.com/apamea/ (January 3, 2011)

Women in Syria

Situation for women in Syria is much better than the surrounding countries. “An important one is the custody of children till the age of 15 years in case of marital disputes. Another hard-won right on the cards is the right to children of marriages between Syrian women and non-Syrian fathers to take the nationality of their mother.”(Hubha Singh, April 25, 2009) Syria has a very high percentage of women who are literate.  “Women’s literacy levels went up from 33 per cent in 1980 to 79 percent in 1999.”(Hubha Singh, April 25, 2009)  The women in Syria still have to marry who ever their family tells them to, which is common in many Middle Eastern countries. A young woman is Syria was being forced to marry her cousin but on their wedding day she ran away to the man she truly loved. She claims that her family now wants to kill her because of her actions. “In Syria, where women's organizations estimate more than 200 women are murdered every year by brothers, cousins or fathers” because of the daughter running away from an arranged marriage.(Lina Sinjab, October 12, 2007) A step forward for Syria was in 2010; they opened its first licensed shelter for abused women. “The situation of women in Syria in compare to the rest of the Middle East is pretty positive about women's work insertion. They are the 29% of the manpower in Syria, in the last years women have been capable of becoming owners of their own enterprises and many different organizations.”( Syrian Women’s Evolution, October 26, 2010)

Hubha Singh. Striding ahead without fear. The status of Women in Syria-A debate. April 25, 2009. http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=2796. (December 30, 2011)

Lina Sinjab. Honour crime fear of Syria women. BBC News. October 12, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7042249.stm. ( December 30, 2011)

 Syrian Women’s Evolution .Syrian Women’s Role in the 21^st century. October 26, 2010. http://nirvanaseattlehotmailcom.blogspot.com/ (December 30, 2011)

Religious Traditions

Sunni is the main religion in Syria. Sunni consists of about 80% of Syria’s population. “The Muslim year has two canonical festivals - the Id al Adha, or "sacrificial" festival on the tenth of Dhul al Hijjah, the twelfth Muslim month; and the Id al Fitr, or "festival of breaking the fast," which celebrates the end of the fast of Ramadan on the first of Shawwal, the tenth month. Both festivals last 3 or 4 days, during which people wear their best clothes, visit and congratulate each other, and give gifts. People visit cemeteries, often remaining for some hours, even throughout the night. The festival of the Id al Fitr is celebrated more joyfully than the Id al Adha because it marks the end of the hardships of Ramadan. Lesser celebrations take place on the Prophet's birthday, which falls on the twelfth of Rabia al Awwal, the third month, and on the first of Muharram, the beginning of the Muslim new year.” In Islam there are four main schools, the Hanafi, the Hanabali, the Shafii, and the Maliki. In Syria the main schools are Shafii and Hanafi, “which places greater emphasis on analogical deduction and bases decisions more on precedents set in previous cases than on literal interpretation of the Quran or Sunna”.

Sunni Islam. About.com.

http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/islam/countries/bl_SyriaIslamSunni.htm (December 28, 2011)