History of Syria

Umayyad Caliphate, 661 CE–750 CE Draft, not yet reviewed

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second Islamic caliphate, ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 661 to 750. Syria served as the caliphate's metropolitan province thereafter, with Damascus as its capital. The Umayyads advanced the early Muslim conquests, conquering the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Central Asia and Sindh. In 750, the Abbasids overthrew Caliph Marwan II, and most of the Umayyad family were slain.

Seat of power: Damascus

Rulers

• Mu'awiya I, Umayyad Caliph, 661 CE–680 CE
• Yazid I, Umayyad Caliph, 680 CE–683 CE
• Mu'awiya II, Umayyad Caliph, 683 CE–684 CE
• Marwan I, Umayyad Caliph, 684 CE–685 CE
• Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, Umayyad Caliph, 685 CE–705 CE
• Al-Walid I, Umayyad Caliph, 705 CE–715 CE
• Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad Caliph, 715 CE–717 CE
• Umar II, Umayyad Caliph, 717 CE–720 CE
• Yazid II, Umayyad Caliph, 720 CE–724 CE
• Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad Caliph, 724 CE–743 CE
• Al-Walid II, Umayyad Caliph, 743 CE–744 CE
• Marwan II, Umayyad Caliph, 744 CE–750 CE
• Yazid III, Umayyad Caliph, 744 CE–744 CE
• Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, Umayyad Caliph, 744 CE–744 CE

Ayyubid dynasty, 1171–1250 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Ayyubid dynasty, also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin that founded the medieval Sultanate of Egypt, which was established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate. Saladin rapidly expanded the new sultanate beyond Egypt to encompass most of Syria, in addition to Hejaz, Yemen, northern Nubia, Tripolitania and Upper Mesopotamia. Most of the Crusader states fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187, but the Crusaders reconquered the Syrian coastlands in the 1190s. In 1260, the Mongols sacked Aleppo and conquered the Ayyubids' remaining territories soon after.

Seat of power: Damascus

Rulers

• Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, 1169–1193
• Al-Aziz Uthman, Sultan of Egypt, 1193–1198
• Al-Mansur Nasir al-Din Muhammad, Sultan of Egypt, 1198–1200
• Al-Adil I, Sultan of Egypt, 1200–1217
• Al-Kamil, Sultan of Egypt, 1218–1238
• Al-Adil II, Sultan of Egypt, 1238–1240
• As-Salih Najm al-din Ayyub, Sultan of Egypt, 1240–1249
• Al-Muazzam Turanshah, Sultan of Egypt, 1249–1250

Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, 1250–1517 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Mamluk Sultanate was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks (freed slave soldiers) headed by a sultan. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

Seat of power: Cairo

Rulers

• Al-Ashraf, Sultan of Egypt, 1250–1254
• Aybak, Sultan of Egypt, 1254–1257
• Al-Mansur Ali, Sultan of Egypt, 1257–1259
• Baibars, Sultan of Egypt, 1260–1277
• Qalawun, Sultan of Egypt, 1279–1290
• Al-Ashraf Khalil, Sultan of Egypt, 1290–1293
• Lajin, Sultan of Egypt, 1296–1299
• Al-Nasir Muhammad, Sultan of Egypt, 1299–1341
• Al-Salih Ismail, Sultan of Egypt, 1342–1345
• An-Nàssir Hàssan, Sultan of Egypt, 1347–1351
• Al-Salih Salih, Sultan of Egypt, 1351–1354
• An-Nàssir Hàssan, Sultan of Egypt, 1355–1361
• Al-Ashraf Sha'ban, Sultan of Egypt, 1363–1377
• Al-Mansur Alà-ad-Din Alí, Sultan of Egypt, 1377–1381
• Nasir-ad-Din Faraj, Sultan of Egypt, 1399–1412

Ottoman Syria, 1516–1918 Draft, not yet reviewed

Ottoman Syria is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant. The Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered Syria in 1516 after defeating the Mamlukes at the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo in northern Syria. Selim carried on his victorious campaign against the Mamlukes and conquered Egypt in 1517 following the Battle of Ridanieh, bringing an end to the Mamluk Sultanate. The Syrian eyalets were later transformed into the Syria Vilayet, the Aleppo Vilayet and the Beirut Vilayet, following the 1864 Tanzimat reforms.

Seat of power: Damascus

Syria, 1920 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

Syria gained de jure independence as a parliamentary republic in 1945 when the First Syrian Republic became a founding member of the United Nations, an act which legally ended the French Mandate. The 1963 coup d'état carried out by the military committee of the Ba'ath Party established a one-party state, which ran Syria under martial law from 1963 to 2011. During the Arab Spring in 2011, members of the Syrian opposition organized protests against the Assad regime, which became known as the Syrian Revolution. In late 2024, HTS and other opposition forces launched a series of offensives, culminating in the fall of Damascus and the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024.

Seat of power: Damascus

Rulers

• Bahij al-Khatib, President of Syria, 1939–1941
• Shukri al-Quwatli, President of Syria, 1946–1949
• Hashim al-Atassi, President of Syria, 1949–1951
• Sami al-Henaaui, President of Syria, 1949–1949
• Fawzi Selu, President of Syria, 1951–1953
• Adib Shishakli, President of Syria, 1953–1954
• Hashim al-Atassi, President of Syria, 1954–1955
• Shukri al-Quwatli, President of Syria, 1955–1958
• Nazim al-Kudsi, President of Syria, 1961–1963
• Amin al-Hafez, President of Syria, 1963–1966
• Nureddin al-Atassi, President of Syria, 1966–1970
• Ahmad al-Khatib, President of Syria, 1970–1971
• Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria, 1971–2000
• Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, 2000–2024
• Ahmed al-Sharaa, President of Syria, 2025 to today