Religious differences in Syria have historically been tolerated , and religious minorities tend to retain distinct cultural , and religious identities . Sunni Islam is the religion of 74 % of Syrians . The Alawites , a variety of Shia Islam , make up 12 % of the population and mostly live in and around Tartus and Latakia . Christians make up 10 % of the country . Most Syrian Christians adhere to the Byzantine Rite ; the two largest are the Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church . The Druze are a mountainous people who reside in Jabal al-Druze who helped spark the Great Syrian Revolt . The Ismailis are an even smaller sect that originated in Asia . Many Armenian and Assyrian Christians fled Turkey during the Armenian Genocide and the Assyrian genocide and settled in Syria . There are also roughly 500,000 Palestinians , who are mostly descendants of refugees from the 1948 Israeli-Arab War . The community of Syrian Jews inside Syria once numbered 30,000 in 1947 , but has only 200 today
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Syrians