D. Turkey became a transit point and later a holding area for more than 3.6 million Syrians, with most of them trying to get into the European Union. Syria is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Lebanon and Israel to the southwest. After Turkey, the much smaller nation of Lebanon has taken the most Syrian war refugees.

Q: A surge of Syrian immigrants in 2015 triggered a wave of nationalism and populist movements in many other nations. Which nation outside of the Middle East has accepted the most Syrian refugees?

A. Canada

B. Germany

C. Sweden

D. United States

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B. Germany accepted 770,000 Syrian War refugees, but it later backed a European Union deal with Turkey to block the continuing flow of refugees. Sweden with population of about 10 million took in 122,000 refugees; Canada’s 37 million people hosted 62,000; and the U.S. with its 328 million people took in 16,000 Syrians before banning new arrivals in 2017.

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Q: The long war has left half of Syria in ruins and led to the rise of the Islamic State’s reign of terror. The United States backed fighters on which side of the civil war?

A. Government

B. Rebels

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B. Syrian rebel groups have been supported by the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Britain, France, Israel and the Netherlands. The major parties supporting the Syrian Government are Iran, Russia and the Lebanese Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia and political party.

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Q: Which Syrian ethnic minority was a crucial ally of the United States in the fight to defeat Islamic State extremists?

A. Alawites

B. Druze

C. Kurds

D. Turkmen

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C. More than 10,000 Kurdish fighters died in the struggle against the Islamic State in Syria and in neighboring Iraq. But last fall, U.S. forces stepped aside as Turkish troops launched an all-out assault on the Kurds in Syria. Turkey only suspended its campaign after making a deal with U.S.-rival Russia, which is fighting in support of the Syrian regime.

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