“We love the leaders for their patience with us.”
“I liked the Bible verses and I memorized them all.”
“If you don’t come every year, we will lose hope because God gave us hope through you. We were really blessed by the way you treated the children.” - A mother
Syria is one of the world’s oldest civilizations. Although predominantly a Muslim nation, Syria is important in the history of Christianity. The Apostle Paul was converted on the road to Damascus and established the first organized Christian Church at Antioch, in ancient Syria, but now part of Turkey.
Following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, France mandated Syria until its independence in 1946. However, years of political instability and military coups followed, including unification with Egypt in 1958 to form the United Arab Republic. Three years later, the two countries separated, and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished. In November 1970, Hafiz al-ASAD, a member of the Socialist Ba'th Party and the minority Alawite sect, seized power and brought political stability to the country. Following his death, his son Bachar Al-ASAD took over the presidency in 2000. Since then, President Bachar Al ASAD introduced some economic reforms.
A developing country with an economy based on agriculture, industry, and tourism, Syria faces serious economic challenges as well as weak financial and capital markets, as well as high unemployment rates.
Around 2000 B.C., Semitic Amorites settled around the Jordan River in the area called Canaan. They were followed by other invaders, among them in more recent history, Ottoman Turks, and, finally, the British.
After World War I, the League of Nations gave Great Britain a mandate to govern much of the Middle East. Consequently, Great Britain separated a semi-autonomous region of Transjordan from Palestine in the early 1920s and annexed it to Jordan in 1950
Economically, Jordan is a small nation with insufficient supplies of water, oil, and other natural resources. Though it has high rates of poverty, unemployment, and inflation, the ruling King Abdullah II, has, since assuming the throne in 1999, undertaken economic reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards.
OOnce called Mesopotamia, Iraq was the site of flourishing ancient civilizations, including the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Parthian cultures. Muslims conquered the area in the 7th century A.D. In later centuries it fell, like much of the Middle Eastern region, under the domination of the Ottoman Empire.
In the aftermath on WWI, Great Britain mandated Iraq, until a republic was proclaimed in 1958. However, the country has long been ruled by military dictators, the last of whom was Saddam Hussein. Since 2006, Iraq has had its first constitutional government in nearly a half-century.
Iraq's economy had for centuries relied heavily on oil exports. However, the Iran-Iraq war, the Kuwait war and economic sanctions deteriorated Iraq's economy and infrastructure during the 1980s and 1990s.
Recently, the new Iraqi government has sought to pass laws to strengthen its economy, such as reducing corruption, as well as bank restructuring and developing the private sector.
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