Since gaining full independence from France in 1946, Syria has used a number of different flags, all featuring the pan-Arab colors of green, black, white, and red. Initially a green, white and black triband charged with three red five-pointed stars, known as the independence flag, was used. In Ba'athist Syria, this was replaced by the flag of the United Arab Republic with a red, white and black triband with either two or three green stars or charged with the national coat of arms.

Following the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, on 13 March 2025, a Constitutional Declaration draft made the independence flag the primary flag; however, the final text ultimately retained the revolution flag, a modified version of the independence flag.

Design

Construction

left|thumb|400px|Construction sheet of the Syrian flag

Color scheme

<!--Do not remove or revise until flag is officially standardized-->

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! 30px<br>Colors scheme !! style="background-color:#007a3d"|<span style="color:white;">Green</span> !! style="background-color:#ffffff"|White !! style="background-color:#000000"|<span style="color:white;">Black</span> !! style="background-color:#ce1126"|<span style="color:white;">Red</span>

|-

| RGB || 0-122-61 || 255-255-255 || 0-0-0 || 206-17-38

|-

| Hexadecimal || #007a3d || #ffffff || #000000 || #ce1126

|-

| CMYK || 89, 27, 100, 15 || 0, 0, 0, 0 || 75, 68, 67, 90 || 12, 100, 98, 3

|-

|style="background:#F2F2F2; text-align:right"| Valid for

| colspan="4" |120x120px 120x120px 120x120px 88px 88px

|-

| colspan="5" |

|}

Specifications

Article 6 of the Constitutional Declaration of 2025 defines the flag of Syria.

"The Syrian flag shall have the following form:

The flag shall be a rectangle with a length equal to one and a half times its width.

It shall consist of three equal horizontal stripes: green on top, white in the middle, and black on the bottom.

The middle of the flag, within the white stripe, shall feature three red stars."

Historic flags of Syria

Kingdom of Syria (1920)

The Ottoman flag had been used in Syria until the Ottomans left the country on 18 September 1918. In 1918, the official flag of Syria was the Faysal flag, or Flag of the Arab Revolt, the flag of the 1916–1918 Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. It was officially adopted by the Hashemite family on 30 September 1918 and remained in use until 8 March 1920. This was the first flag to use the green/red/white/black combination seen in most subsequent Syrian flags. The colors' symbolism has been described as follows: white for the Damascene Umayyad period, green for the Caliph Ali, red for the Khawarij radical Islamic movement, and black for the Islamic prophet Muhammad, showing the "political use of religion" in opposition to the increasingly secularized Turkish colonial rule. Alternately, it has been argued that the horizontal colors stand for the Abbasid (black), Umayyad (white) and Fatimid (green) Caliphates and the red triangle to the Hashemite dynasty.

Under the Arab Kingdom of Syria, the Faisal flag was redesigned with a 7-pointed white star imposed on the red triangle, and was in use until 24 July 1920. This flag was officially adopted by Jordan in April 1928. Gouraud's flag was in use until 1 September 1920, after which Syria was split into separate territories, each eventually given its own flag (see below).

Independence flag

thumb|The Independence flag, adopted in 1930

The flag of the newly established Syrian Republic, under the French mandate was determined by the 1930 constitution. The constitution was drafted by a parliamentary committee led by nationalist leader Ibrahim Hananu. At first, French authorities refused to allow the constituent assembly to ratify the constitution, and Henri Ponsot, the High Commissioner of the Levant, dissolved the assembly on 5 February 1929. After a public uproar, French authorities rescinded their decision and decided to approve the draft with some changes. On 14 May 1930, Ponsot issued decree number 3111, which approved the Syrian-drafted "Constitution of the Syrian Republic", and which in Article IV of Part I states:

The flag's green colour stood for the Rashidun, white represented the Umayyads and black symbolised the Abbasids. Originally, the three red stars represented the three districts of Syria: the "states" of Aleppo, Damascus, and Deir ez-Zor.

| Relinquished = (Syrian withdrawal from UAR)<br>

| Design = A horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black; charged with two green stars at the centre.

| Image2 = Flag of Syria (1963–1972).svg

| Adoption2 =

| Relinquished2 =

thumb|Flag used by Syria between 1972 and 1980

;United Arab Republic

Syria united with Egypt in February 1958 to form the United Arab Republic (UAR). Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was the president of Egypt and later president of the UAR, introduced a new flag in April 1958 to replace the previous independence flag and promote Arab unity. The new flag featured red, white, and black horizontal bands from the Egyptian revolutionary flag, with two green stars representing Egypt and Syria. It was based on the Arab Liberation Flag of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which used four pan-Arab colours—black, green, white, and red—representing the Abbasid, Fatimid, Umayyad, and Hashemite dynasties. However, the new UAR flag had two stars to represent the two parts of the UAR.

;Ba'athist Syria

Following the 1963 Ba'athist coup d'état, a new flag was adopted by its Revolutionary Command Council on 8 March 1963, and was used until 1 January 1972.

President Hafez al-Assad adopted a new flag on 1 January 1972, as Syria joined Egypt and Libya in the Federation of Arab Republics. The green stars were replaced by the Hawk of Quraish (the symbol of the tribe of Muhammad). The usage of the flag has become disputed because it is often associated with the Ba'ath Party and has come to represent parties loyal to Bashar al-Assad's government in the Syrian civil war. Since the Syrian revolution and subsequent fall of the Assad regime in 2024, the flag is no longer in use but loyalists of the deposed Assad regime continue to use the Ba'athist Syrian flag in parts of Western Syria.

The Ba'athist Syrian flag is described in Article 6 of the 2012 Constitution of Syria. The first paragraph of the Article states:

Early creation of the Revolution flag

In 2006, Safouh Al Barazi, a lifelong Syrian activist and member of a prominent family from Hama, launched a campaign in Canada advocating for the adoption of the pre-Ba'athist Syrian flag, with a few alterations. The flag would be known as the revolution flag. The revolution flag, featuring green, white, and black horizontal stripes with three red stars, was similar to the one originally used by Syria following its independence from French mandate rule in 1946. Al Barazi presented the revolution flag publicly with his signature in 2006 for the first time in Montreal, Canada, at a conference meeting.

Al Barazi's efforts) and internationally, contributing to the flag's resurgence as a symbol of the Syrian opposition during the civil uprising that began in 2011.

The revolution flag has since been widely adopted by various opposition groups and protesters, both within Syria and among the diaspora, representing aspirations for freedom and democratic governance. Al Barazi's early advocacy in Canada and in Washington played a significant role in reintroducing this historic emblem to the forefront of the Syrian opposition movement.

Syrian revolution and civil war

thumb|Man with the Syrian flag, [[Paris]]

thumb|A Syrian flag with three balls and a tip on top of the flag pole|110px

During the Syrian civil war, the Syrian opposition, represented by the Syrian National Council, then by the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (commonly named the Syrian National Coalition) used the independence flag first used in 1932. The flag began to be used as a universal display of the protesting opposition in late 2011.

Following the fall of the Assad regime, the HTS-dominated Syrian caretaker government used the revolution flag. The flag was also adopted by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria some days later. The caretaker government additionally displayed a Tawhid flag depicting the Shahada in black on a white field at its first meeting, which led to criticism for its association with Sunni fundamentalist groups such as the Taliban. On 13 March 2025, a Constitutional declaration made the 1:2 original independence flag the primary flag;

On 25 April 2025, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani raised the flag during a ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where he was also scheduled to attend a United Nations Security Council. The United Nations also updated the Syrian flag on its list of member states.

On 20 September 2025, al-Shaibani raised the Syrian flag at the Syrian embassy in Washington, D.C. for the first time since the mission was suspended in 2012.

== See also == <!--Do not remove unless consensus agrees-->

  • List of Syrian flags
  • National symbols of Syria
  • Emblem of Syria
  • Pan-Arab colors
  • Flag of the Arab Revolt
  • Flag of Bahrain
  • Flag of Egypt
  • Flag of Iraq
  • Flag of Jordan
  • Flag of Kuwait
  • Flag of Palestine
  • Flag of Sudan
  • Flag of the United Arab Emirates
  • Flag of Yemen

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Mohammad Dibo Debate: The New Syria between Flags and Languages, SyriaUntold 14 June 2016.