GOVERNORATES
Syria is divided into 13 governorates and the municipality of Damascus. The capital and largest city of the country is Damascus.
Aleppo ,Homs, Damascus City, Idlib, Damascus, Latakia,Deir Ez Zor, Quneitra
Dara, Raqqa, Hama, Suwieda, Hassake, Tartus.

Brief Political History of Syria

Damascus Came under Muslim rule in A.D.636. and it became the capital of Omayyad Empire from A.D. 661 to A.D. 750, when the Abbasid caliphate was established at Baghdad, Iraq. Later, around 1260 it became a provincial capital of Mameluke Empire. It was largely destroyed in 1400 by Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror, who removed many of its craftsmen to Samarkand. Rebuilt, it continued to serve as a capital until 1516. In 1517, it fell under Ottoman rule. They remained for the next 400 years, except for a brief occupation by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt from 1832 to 1840. In 1920, an independent Arab kingdom of Syria was established under king Faysal of the Hashemite family. His rule ended after few months, following the clash between Syrian forces and regular French forces at the battle of Maysalun. French troops occupied Syria later that year after the league of Nations put Syrian under the French mandate. With the fall of France in 1940, Syria came under the control of the Vichy Government until the British and Free French occupied the country in July 1941. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalist groups forced the French to evacuate their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate.

Independence to 1970

Although rapid economic development followed the declaration of independence of April 17, 1946, Syrian politics from independence through the late 1960s was marked by upheaval. A series of military coups, begun in 1949, undermined civilian rule and led to army colonel Adib Shishakli's seizure of power in 1951.President Shishakli overthrown power in a 1954 coup and deported to Brazil. continued political maneuvering supported by competing factions in the military eventually brought Arab nationalist and socialist elements to power.
Syria's political instability during the years after the 1954 coup, the parallelism of Syrian and Egyptian policies, and the appeal of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's leadership in the wake of the 1956 Suez crisis created support in Syria for union with Egypt. On February 1, 1958, the two countries merged to create the United Arab Republic, and all Syrian political parties ceased overt activities.
The union was not a success, however. Following a military coup on September 28, 1961, Syria seceded, re-establishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Instability characterized the next 18 months. Later on March 8, 1963, Al Ba'ath Party took over, which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s.