Flag of Syria

What the new flag of Syria looks like

The Syrian flag has three horizontal bands of equal height: green at the top, white in the middle and black at the bottom. On the white band, there are three red five-pointed stars arranged in a row. The proportions are 2:3.

This design was defined in the 1930 constitution of the Syrian Republic under the French mandate (with a length twice the width) and was the flag of independence in 1946. Article 6 of the 2025 Constitutional Declaration now sets the proportion at 2:3. The flag it replaced in December 2024 had red, white and black stripes, with two green stars on the white band, so it is easy to tell them apart: the new one has green on top and red stars, the old one had red on top and green stars. The Syria flag emoji may show either version, depending on the platform.

Syria flag meaning and symbolism

The four colors, green, white, black and red, are the Pan-Arab colors, first combined in Syria on the flag of the 1916 Arab Revolt. One common reading links them to Arab dynasties: black to the Abbasids, green to the Fatimids, white to the Umayyads and red to the Hashemites, though sources differ on the exact assignment.

On the independence flag, the green stripe stood for the Rashidun Caliphate, the white for the Umayyad and the black for the Abbasid, and the three red stars originally stood for the states of Aleppo, Damascus and Deir ez-Zor. Since the flag returned as a symbol of the opposition in 2011, many Syrians have understood it as a sign of independence and of a break with the previous government. As the flag has been used by different movements, its meaning is not fixed. The older flag's two green stars stood for Egypt and Syria in the union of 1958 to 1961, and a two-star flag was readopted in 1980.

History of the Syrian flag

Syria has had many flags in the twentieth century. After the First World War, the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria (1920) used a flag based on the Arab Revolt, with black, white and green stripes and a red triangle. Under the French mandate, which began in 1920, several state flags were used. The 1930 constitution of the Syrian Republic defined a flag with green, white and black stripes and three red stars, and this was the flag of the country at independence on 17 April 1946.

In 1958 Syria merged with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic, whose flag was a red, white and black tricolor with two green stars. After Syria left the union in 1961 it restored the independence flag in September 1961. In 1963, after the Ba'athist coup, the country adopted a red, white and black flag with three green stars, representing Egypt, Syria and Iraq. From 1972 to 1980 Syria used a flag with the hawk of Quraish, linked to the Federation of Arab Republics. From 1980 the flag again had red, white and black stripes, now with two green stars, and it remained in use until 2024.

After the Syrian civil war began in 2011, the opposition used the green, white and black flag with three red stars. After the fall of the Assad government on 8 December 2024, the caretaker government used this revolution flag. On 13 March 2025 the Constitutional Declaration retained it as the national flag, with a 2:3 proportion. It is therefore a return to the independence flag first used in 1932.

Why were there two Syrian flags?

During the civil war of 2011 to 2024, two flags were used in Syria at the same time. The government used the red, white and black flag with two green stars, and the opposition used the green, white and black flag with three red stars. Which flag appeared depended on who controlled the area, so media and organizations used either one. The question "which flag of Syria is correct" now has a simpler answer: the green, white and black flag has been used since December 2024, and the older red flag is a historic design.

Compare it with the neighboring flags of Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, or browse the flags of the world.