The flag of the Syrian Arab Republic has been officially used since 1980.
Description and proportions of the flag of Syria
The rectangular cloth of the Syrian flag has three horizontal stripes equal in width. The bottom stripe is black, the middle one is white, and the top one is made in bright red. At the same distance from the edges of the panel and its center, on the field of the white stripe, there are two five-pointed stars made in green. Proportionally, the width of the flag is related to its length as 2: 3.
The colors that can be seen on the flag of Syria are traditional for many countries in the Arab region. The green color on it symbolizes not only the Islamic religion, but also the Fatimid dynasty. These Muslim caliphs ruled in northern Africa from the end of the 10th to the middle of the 12th centuries. White was a traditional color for the Umayyads, who led the Damascus Caliphate during the 7th-8th centuries. The black stripe is a tribute to the memory of the Abassid dynasty, whose power extended over the territory of the Caliphate from the 8th to the 12th century.
The red field of the flag symbolizes the blood shed by all the martyrs for the freedom and independence of the country. The stars on the flag are Syria and Egypt, the peoples of which became part of the United Arab Republic.
History of the flag of Syria
After the independence of Syria from Ottoman rule was declared in 1918, the flag of the Arab uprising was raised over the country. It was a tricolor with horizontal stripes running in the order of white, green and black, starting at the bottom. A red isosceles triangle extended from the flagpole across the entire width of the flag.
On the basis of this banner, the flag of the Syrian kingdom was developed, which the French authorities replaced, having received the rights of a mandate holder. Subsequently divided into four parts, the country existed in a fragmented state until 1936. United Syria raised a green-white-black flag with five-pointed red stars, which served it after the signing of the Independence Treaty in 1946.
Having formed the United Arab Republic in tandem with Egypt in 1958, Syria adopted a flag similar to today's one as a national symbol. Withdrawal from the UAR returned the former flag to the Syrians. This was followed by a military coup, as a result of which the Baath party gained power, and a place on the flagpoles - red-white-black banners with three green stars on a white field. The intrigue was that the same flag flew over Iraq in those years, and therefore a possible alliance between it and Syria gave rise to a lot of political gossip.
The current flag was finally adopted as the state symbol of the country in 1980.
