"Ḥumāt ad-Diyār" (Arabic: حُمَاةَ الدَّيَّارِ, lit. 'Guardians of the Homeland') was written as the national anthem of Syria, with lyrics written by Khalil Mardam Bey and the music by Mohammed Salim Flayfel, who also composed the national anthem of Iraq as well as other Arab folk songs.
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History
It was adopted in 1938 after a competition held by Hashim al-Atassi's government to choose a state anthem for the new republic two years after the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was signed which gave Syria limited autonomy and future independence. The anthem was initially set to lose to Fī Sabīli al-Majd in the competition, but it later won the competition after it gained rapid popularity amongst the Syrian population which put pressure on the competition's committee to reconsider its decisions, and eventually the anthem won and was adopted by the government as Syria's national anthem.
It temporarily fell out of use when Syria joined the United Arab Republic with Egypt. On 22 February 1958, it was decided that the national anthem of the UAR would be a combination of the then Egyptian national anthem "Salam Affandina" and "Ḥumāt ad-Diyār". On 20 May 1960, it was replaced by Walla Zaman Ya Selahy, composed by Kamal Al Taweel. When Syria seceded from the union in 1961, it was fully restored and has since been used as Syria's official national anthem. The use of the anthem remains the only symbol used between the Socialist Arab Renaissance Party government and the Syrian opposition after the start of the civil war in 2011; In addition, another version of the anthem was played, but with partially altered lyrics to directly call for the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, which effectively occurred on 8 December 2024.
Post-Assad regime
On 18 January 2025, the Syrian Football Association announced to FIFA that it would make a series of changes when appearing in football matches. Among these changes, this included a new anthem, "Fī Sabīli al-Majd" ('In Pursuit of Glory') by the poet Omar Abu Risha, serving as a temporary national anthem until a permanent resolution regarding the official anthem could be determined. In March 2025, the Constitutional Declaration was signed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and Article 5 states that the national anthem shall be determined by law.
On 19 October 2025, al-Sharaa met with Minister of Culture Mohammed Yassin Saleh and a group of "several writers and poets", during which "arrangements related to the national anthem of the Syrian Arab Republic were addressed."