<item><hi format=bold>International disputes:</hi> separated from Israel by the 1949 Armistice Line; Golan Heights is Israeli occupied; Hatay question with Turkey; periodic disputes with Iraq over Euphrates water rights; ongoing dispute over water development plans by Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; Syrian troops in northern Lebanon since October 1976
<item><hi format=bold>Climate:</hi> mostly desert; hot, dry, sunny summers (June to August) and mild, rainy winters (December to February) along coast
<item><hi format=bold>Terrain:</hi> primarily semiarid and desert plateau; narrow coastal plain; mountains in west
<item><hi format=bold>Natural resources:</hi> petroleum, phosphates, chrome and manganese ores, asphalt, iron ore, rock salt, marble, gypsum
<item><hi format=bold>Land use:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>arable land:</hi> 28%
<item>• <hi format=ital>permanent crops:</hi> 3%
<item>• <hi format=ital>meadows and pastures:</hi> 46%
<item>• <hi format=ital>forest and woodland:</hi> 3%
<item>• <hi format=ital>other:</hi> 20%
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>Irrigated land:</hi> 6,700 sq km (1989)
<item><hi format=bold>Environment:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>current issues:</hi> deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution from dumping of untreated sewage and wastes from petroleum refining; lack of safe drinking water
<item>• <hi format=ital>natural hazards:</hi> NA
<item>• <hi format=ital>international agreements:</hi> party to—Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified—Biodiversity, Environmental Modification
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>Note:</hi> there are 40 Jewish settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (April 1994)