Syria

Syria was the site of various early civilizations, most notably that of the Phoenicians. Falling successively within the empires of Persia, Macedon, and Rome, it became a center of Islamic power and civilization from the 7th century and a province of the Ottoman Empire in 1516. After the Turkish defeat in World War I, Syria was mandated to France and became independent with the ejection of Vichy troops by the Allies in 1941. From 1958 to 1961, Syria was united with Egypt as the United Arab Republic. It lost the Golan Heights to Israel in the 1967 war