4 th International Congress of Developing Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism of Iran 13-15 Feb. 2019, Tabriz Islamic Art University In cooperation with Shiraz University and Yasouj University Drought Trends in Syria from 1900 to 2015 Safwan Mohammed 1 *, Karam Alsafadi 2 , Seyed Mohammad Nasir Mousavi 1 , Endre Harsanyie 1 . 1. Institute of Land Use, Technology and Regional Development, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, 4032, Hungary, safwan@agr.unideb.hu 2. Department of Geography and GIS, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University, Alexandria 25435, Egypt Abstract This study aimed to analyze the trend of temperature rainfall and drought, during the period (1900-2015) in Syria. Statistical analyses showed a decrease of rainfall, and an increase in temperature, interestingly, the study emphasize a gradual increase of standardized precipitation (SPI) index, which is a good indicator of drought development in the study area over time. Also, the study highlighted that the five years before Syrian conflict (2005-2009) witness a dramatic change in temperature, rainfall pattern and drought cycle, which has been the most disastrous year for the agricultural sector. Key words: SPI Index, climate change, Syria. 1. Introduction In recent days, there is no doubt that climate change has become one of the concerns of humanity [1- 2] where several parts of the globe have witnessed significant climate change. Syria, which located in the Middle East has been suffering from climate change and drought cycles many times [3]. Many indicators had been used to calculate and estimate climate change patterns in Syria; [4] proved by using Effective Drought Index (EDI) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), for 15 meteorological stations covering the country a positive trend of dry days in rainy seasons between 1985 and 2009. While, [5] analysis the trend of average temperature during the period (1978-2011) and emphasize an increase of the average temperature between 0.03, and 0.09 ºC in the coastal region of Syria. In a similar way, the southern regions of Syria (Damascus, Khrabo, Dara, and El-Sweda) showed a positive trend of drought which ranged between extreme drought (Damascus) and severe drought (Khrabo) during the period (1958-2006) [6]. Likewise, precipitation characteristics were widely studied by using different mathematical models, [7] used Gamma distribution and Precipitation Concentration Index (PCI) to study changes in precipitation characteristics during the period 1960-2010 in six meteorological stations located in the coastal region of Syria, and conclude that all the stations recorded a significant decrease in precipitation amounts. More recently, [8] studied the impact of climate change on air temperature and annual precipitation, in the Jordanian Badia (Mafraq, Safawi, Rwaished, Azraq, Um El-Jumal, and Ramtha), in addition