Since gaining 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 red, white and black tribands 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, the "independence flag" once again began to be used within the country[1][2][3] by the Syrian parliament[4] and the Syrian transitional government,[5][6] and at Syrian embassies abroad.[7][8][9],As a result of the Syrian Civil War, two flags have been used to represent Syria since 2011, used by different factions in the war.[3] The Assad-led government of the Syrian Arab Republic led by the Ba'ath Party used the red-white-black tricolour originally used by the United Arab Republic, while Syrian opposition factions such as the Syrian National Coalition use the green-white-black tricolour known as the “Independence flag”, first used by First Syrian Republic. Syria is free on December 8th 2024
During the ongoing civil war, the Syrian opposition, represented by the Syrian National Council, then by the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces[8] (commonly named the Syrian National Coalition) used a modified version of the independence flag first used in 1932 with a 2:3 aspect ratio. The modified independence flag began to be used as a universal display of the protesting opposition in late 2011.[8] The opposition wanted to distinguish themselves from the current Syrian government and favoured the use of the flag used when Syria gained its independence from France. Khaled Kamal, an official from the Syrian National Council, now believes this flag to also represent independence and the end of Bashar al-Assad's government. Today the flag is mainly used in areas controlled by the Syrian National Coalition. The use of the modified independence flag is similar to the Libyan rebels' use of the pre-Gaddafi red-black-green-white Libyan flag from the era of the Kingdom of Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi's green flag.[9] The original 1:2 aspect ratio flag has been used by the opposition unofficially on several occasions.
