With the Assad regime now nothing but a page in the history books, Syria is stepping into a new and exciting time. What will the future hold for Syria, no one can be absolutely sure, one thing that is certain though is that the flag has changed!
So why the new flag? What does it mean? And where does it come from?
Flags hold very important meanings for countries and are not usually changed so quickly. One thing that usually does change a flag quickly though is a revolution. We saw this with the changing of Libya’s once all-green flag to its new red, black and green tri-stripe and we have now seen it once more in Syria.
The old flag of Syria is now considered defunct and has lost its legal status in the country since the constitution of Syria was suspended on the 12 th of December 2024. Since then we have seen numerous images online of the new three-star flag all across the country and we have even seen it implemented in some overseas Syrian embassies.
The old flag of Syria represented the Baath party that was led by the Assad family. The old flag maintains a lot of meaning associated with the Assad regime that ruled the country for many years. Understandably, people are ready to never see this flag again.
Where did this flag come from?
Well, the new flag comes from a different time when Syria was fighting for its independence, but this time against the French. Syria was under French control during the early part of the 20
th
Century under the French Mandate which controlled Syria and Lebanon. The three-star black, white a green-striped flag was the first flag used as the flag of the Syrian Republic in 1930 and later became a symbol against oppression when France refused to relinquish control of Syria, following the outbreak of World War 2.
The flag saw a revival in 2006 when Syrians living abroad in Canada and the USA adopted it as a symbol against the Assad regime and as a symbol for a democratic Syria. This then gained popularity when the Syrian civil war beginning in 2011. If you travelled to the south or other areas of the country not fully under the control of the Assad regime in recent years, you would have seen this very same flag. It was considered an anti-government symbol and was very much outlawed by the government.
What is the meaning?
The three different stripes represent significant time periods of Syrian history. The Green represents the Rashidun period, the white is for the Umayyads and the black represents the Abbasids. The three stars in the centre represent the different regions of Syria that were carved up during the time of the French mandate based on different ethnic and religious peoples. These stand for the states Damascus, Aleppo and Deir Ez-zor, the sanjak of Latakia and Jabel Druze.
For now, we think the new flag is here to stay and that it’s only a matter of time before the flag emoji on your phones is changed to reflect this change in government.
While we are not running group tours to Syria at this very moment, we expect to return to the country sometime this year. For now, we are still running private tours to the country. If you are interested in travelling to Syria to experience the country after the fall of Assad, then send us an email to
[email protected]
.
