The Levant is an approximate, historical, geographical term which refers to a large
area in the eastern Mediterranean.
In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the eastern Mediterranean
with its islands, that is, it included all of the countries along the eastern Mediterranean
shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica in modern day Libya.
The term Levant comes from the Italian word Levante, meaning "rising", implying the rising
of the sun in the east.
Today the term usually refers to Syria, the Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and the
Sinai Peninsula; so we are going to include Egypt in this video!
At the time of the making of this video both major factions in the civil war in Syria have
their own, very similar flag.
The first flag we will look at is the flag of the Syrian Arab Republic:
The flag of the Syrian Arab Republic consists of three colours: red, white and black, with
two green 5 pointed stars.
The colours of the flag make up the pan Arabic colours.
Each colour in the Syrian flag refers to a definite meaning or a period as follows:
Red Color: The blood of the martyrs.
Black Color: The Abbasids.
White Color: The Umayyad.
The Green: The Rashidun or the Fatimid.
The two stars represent the previous union between Egypt and Syria.
The current flag was first adopted in 1958 to represent Syria as part of the United Arab
Republic, and was used until 1961, before being readopted in 1980.
Although Syria is not part of any Arab state union, the flag of the United Arab Republic
was readopted to show Syria's commitment to Arab unity.
the usage of the flag has become disputed because it is often associated with the Ba'ath
or renaissance Party and has come to represent parties loyal to Assad's government in the
Syrian civil war.
The second flag used by Syrians today is the Syrian Interim Government:
This flag is a modified version of the independence flag first used in 1932 and adopted by an
independent Syria in 1946; and its design is quite similar to the Syrian Arab Republics
flag.
Originally, the three red stars represented the three districts of Syria (Aleppo, Damascus,
and Deir ez-Zor).
But In 1936 another two districts were added (the Sanjak of Latakia and Jebel Druze) to
Syria, and the representation of the three stars was changed
The flag of Lebanon is formed of two horizontal red stripes above and below a horizontal white
stripe and the white stripe is to be two times the width of a red one.
The green cedar in the middle touches each of the red stripes and its width a third of
the width of the flag.
The Cedar in the middle of the flag is directly inspired by the mountains of Lebanon cedar.
The Cedar is a symbol of holiness, eternity and peace.
Interestingly the cedar of Lebanon appears in many historic biblical references appearing
seventy-seven times in the bible.
For the Lebanese, the cedar is a symbol of hope, freedom and memory.
The white color on the flag represents the snow as a symbol of purity and peace.
The two red stripes refer to the Lebanese blood shed to preserve the country
The flag of Israel was adopted on October 28, 1948, five months after the establishment
of the State of Israel.
It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizontal blue stripes.
The portrayal of a Star of David on the flag of the State of Israel is a widely acknowledged
symbol of the Jewish people and of Judaism.
The blue stripes are intended to symbolize the stripes on a tallit, the traditional Jewish
prayer shawl.
The ancient Israelites used a blue colored dye, and this dye was very important in both
Jewish and non-Jewish cultures of this time, and was used by royalty and the upper class
for dyeing their clothing, sheets, curtains, etc.
The Palestinian flag is based on the Flag of the Arab Revolt, and is used to represent
the State of Palestine and the Palestinian people.
The flag is a tricolor of three equal horizontal stripes of black, white, and green overlaid
by a red triangle from the hoist.
These are the Pan-Arab colors.
The flag is almost identical to that of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and extremely
similar to the Flag of Jordan and Flag of Western Sahara which draw their inspiration
from the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule (1916–1918).
Prior to being the flag of the Palestinian people, it was the flag of the short lived
Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan.
The flag of Jordan, officially adopted on 18 April 1928, is based on the flag of the
Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
The flag consists of horizontal black, white, and green bands, the pan-Arab colours, that
are connected by a red triangle.
In addition to the bands and triangle, a white star with seven points is featured on the
hoist side of the triangle.
The star stands for the unity of the Arab people.
Their faith in one God, humanity, humility, national spirit, virtue, social justice, and
aspiration It is also said to stand for the seven verses of the first surah in the Qur'an,
or refer to the seven hills on which Amman, the capital, was built.
The flag of Egypt was adopted in 1984 and has three equal horizontal bands of red, white,
and black with the national emblem, a gold Eagle of Saladin facing the hoist side with
a shield on its chest above a scroll bearing the name of the country in Arabic, centered
in the white band.
Red represents the struggle against the British occupation of Egypt (the period before 1952)
White symbolizes the advent of the 1952 Revolution which ended the monarchy without bloodshed.
Black stands for the end of the oppression of the people of Egypt at the hands of the
Monarchy and British colonialism (the period after 1952)
Eagle of Saladin represents power and strength Is based on the flag of United Arab Republic
like Syrian flag.
If you like this video, please check out our other videos on other flags from around the
world.
And make sure to share and subscribe if you have not already.
Thanks for watching.