. From Syria to Egypt and beyond, partisans yearn to crush old rivals or sectarian foes once and for all.” The language is telling; a perpetuation of the old stereotype of the “angry Arab” with passionate fury fuelled by intemperate Mediterranean blood. Language like this subtly (or not so subtly) underscores the division between “us” – rational beings – and “them” – the dangerous other.

“If you’re Arab, emphasise that fact, since all Arabs are exactly alike and every Arab speaks for all Arabdom. Be sure to divide the entire population of Syria into "good guys" and "bad guys".”

The truth is, we are failures. Two years on, our readers barely remember where Damascus is, and the world instinctively describes what’s happening in Syria as “that mayhem,” because nobody understands anything about Syria—only blood, blood, blood.

Archaeologists have demonstrated that Syria was the center of one of the most ancient civilizations on earth. Around the excavated city of Ebla in northern Syria, discovered in 1975, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 B.C. The city of Ebla alone during that time had a population estimated at 260,000. S

Syria was occupied successively by Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, and, in part, Crusaders before finally coming under the control of the Ottoman Turks

rst organized Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria, from which he left on many of his missionary journeys

The roughly 23 million inhabitants of Syria are an overall indigenous Levantine people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history, they are, in fact,[citation needed] largely a blend of the various Semitic speaking groups indigenous to the region.

Arabs 90%, other ethnic groups such as Kurds 9%, Assyrians/Syriacs,[9] Armenians, Circassians, and Syrian Turkmen 1% [4

Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian (widely understood); French, English (somewhat understood)

Sunni Muslim (Islam - official) 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)

22,457,336 (July 2013 est.)

In the nearby 6th of October City, parts of which have come to be known as Little Damascus, the refugees say the official hostility has amplified the frustrations of Egyptians with their own faltering economy, and Egypt’s chronic insecurity since the toppling of Hosni Mubara

Dozens of men with clubs and knives stormed a charity for Syrian refugees a few days after the Egyptian military ousted President Mohamed Morsi — making it clear they were no longer welcome in Egypt.

Syria, more than two million people have fled the country, most of them taking up residence as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. But as many as 300,000 have eventually made their way to Egypt

“My Egyptian brother, my Egyptian sister,” the fliers said. “Fight the Syrian occupation and defend your jobs.”

Many tried to enter Egypt by sea, Ali said, adding that the rationale behind the recent move could be an attempt to put pressure on Syrians and to force them to sign deportation papers.

The latest report issued, stated that Egypt is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. It is placed in the 2009 United States TVPA Report as a Tier 2 Watch List Country because absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking has been significantly increasing over the last year.

Total Persons of Concern 2,199,668

The Syrian Arab Republic is a medium-income country, ranked 106 out of 177 countries on the 2005 human development index.

changing from a centralized economy to a social market economy

The population of the Syrian Arab Republic was 17.8 million in 2004. The population growth rate was 2.45 per cent during 2000-2005, down from 3.3 per cent between 1981 and 1994. Improvements in health care contributed to declining fertility rates, a sharp fall in mortality rates, and increased life expectancy at birth (70 years for males and 72.1 years for females in 2004).

With 4 million people inside Syria who are in need of assistance, including more than 2 million internally displaced people, some 200,000 women will likely be pregnant this year

Spring 2013 — Since the beginning of conflict in Syria nearly two years ago, over a million people, mostly women and children, have been registered as refugees in neighbouring countries. Between December 2012 and January 2013, more than 255,000 Syrians fled the country.

126,034