The Syrian Arab Republic has a population of more than 16 million. It lies on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean sea, and is a country very aware of its Islamic tradition and Arabic heritage. Since the dawn of time, the area has been a crossroads of civilization, the bridge connecting the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and the fertile crescent, and the beginning of the Silk Road joining the West with the East. It was here that the cultures of Mari and Ugarit rose and fell; where the Assyrian, Sumerian, Phoenician, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman empires and cultures met and influenced each other. Damascus, the capital, is considered the oldest city in the world and was the major eastern political and cultural center of the Roman empire in the times of Jesus -- St. Paul underwent his conversion to Christianity "on the road to Damascus". A major Islamic city during the time of the crusades, it became famed for the "Damascened" steel weapons that the local Swordsmiths created for Saladin and his warriors. In the provinces, there are villages that still speak Aramaic, an oral not written language. The alphabet carved on a clay tablet found in Ugarit, is the first alphabet known in history. There is stunning natural scenery; rugged mountains; green valleys; deserts; beautiful swimming beaches and mountain peaks, perpetually covered with snow. Throughout the country there are magnificent ancient ruins, Medieval castles and fortresses and wonderful Islamic mosques.

---