Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 3,453,888
females age 18-49: 3,421,558 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 225,113
females age 18-49: 211,829 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$858 million (FY00 est.); note - based on official budget data that
may understate actual spending
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
5.9% (FY00)
Transnational Issues Syria
Disputes - international:
Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied with the almost 1,000-strong UN
Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) patrolling a buffer zone since
1964; Lebanon claims Shaba'a farms in Golan Heights; international
pressure prompts the removal of Syrian troops and intelligence
personnel stationed in Lebanon since October 1976; 2004 Agreement
and pending demarcation settles border dispute with Jordan
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 432,048 (Palestinian Refugees
(UNRWA)) 14,391 (Iraq)
IDPs: 170,000 (most displaced from Golan Heights during 1967
Arab-Israeli War) (2005)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Syria is a destination country for women from
South and Southeast Asia and Africa for domestic servitude and from
Eastern Europe and Iraq for sexual exploitation; women are recruited
for work in Syria as domestic servants, but some face conditions of
exploitation and involuntary servitude including long hours,
non-payment of wages, withholding of passports and other
restrictions on movement, and physical and sexual abuse; Eastern
European women recruited for work in Syria as cabaret dancers are
not permitted to leave their work premises without permission and
have their passports withheld; some displaced Iraqi women and
children are reportedly forced into sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 3 - Syria does not fully comply with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making
significant efforts to do so
Illicit drugs:
a transit point for opiates and hashish bound for regional and
Western markets; weak anti-money-laundering controls and bank
privatization may leave it vulnerable to money-laundering
This page was last updated on 19 December, 2006