Major environmental issues in Syria include deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, water pollution from the dumping of raw sewage and wastes from petroleum refining, and inadequate supplies of potable water.

Water shortages, exacerbated by population growth, industrial expansion, and water pollution, are a significant long-term constraint on economic development. The water shortages in Syria turned into five successive years of drought, prolonging the environmental issues that Syria already had.

The Assad government (Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syrian Region) came into power in Syria in 1970. Hafez al-Assad ruled as President from 1971 to 2000, and following his death the presidency passed to his son, Bashar al-Assad. The lack of change in environmental policies contributed to the five successive years of drought. Also, the continuous 'stability and peace' movement for four decades that was instilled by the Assad government transformed into institutionalizing fear and violence amongst its own people had an effect in the 2011 Arab spring. The 2011 Arab Spring, which began as a civil uprising, quickly transformed into the Syrian Civil War.

The outbreak of the Civil War in Syria has been detrimental to the economy and environment. The toxicity of weapons used during the war such as mortar bombs, artillery shells, barrel bombs, aircraft bombs and missiles have been the leading cause for the damage to Syria's oil production, industrial areas, infrastructure, and waste management. Therefore, the Ministry of Environmental Affairs in Syria (State Minister: Nazira Farah Sarkis) has participated in the United Nations Conference to create the Sustainable Development Plan. This plan was created as an effort to combat desertification, biodiversity, and climate change. Unfortunately, at the General Assembly, it was declared that the plan had failed in terms of the setbacks that were found within the degrading land and eroding development gains. These environmental issues were ultimately related to the Syrian war.

In the years of 2006–2011, Syria experienced five successive years of drought that created one of the biggest humanitarian crisis Syria has ever known. Although, the climate change has significantly impacted the drought in Syria, affecting the agriculture resources, the Assad government has demonstrated a long-term mismanagement and neglect of natural resources.

It is natural for droughts to occur in countries with semi-arid climate. Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine were similarly affected by the drought in 2007–2008, but Syria was the only country in the region that experienced a humanitarian crisis. The region that was severely affected by the drought is the greater Fertile Crescent. Being the main source for agriculture and animal herding, the drought caused agricultural failures and livestock mortality. The lack of change in policy setting – agricultural policies – has been one of the perpetrators of this issue. Hafez al-Assad had instilled policies to improve Syria's agricultural production including the redistribution of land, and irrigation projects. The land redistribution exploited the limited land affecting the level of groundwater as a consequence causing water shortage in Syria.

In 2003, 25 percent of Syria's GDP came from agriculture. In fact, Syria's agriculture depended on their 6-month winter season where they accumulated their rainfall to grow the crops. In 2007 and 2008, Syria failed to produce wheat due to having had the driest winter on record causing the agricultural share to fall to 17 percent. Farmers and herders were producing zero or near-zero livestock (such as wheat, and rice), forcing them to begin importing products for the first time in 15 years. This caused prices of wheat and rice to drastically increase. In 2010, the drought completely demolished the environment causing malnutrition and nutrition related diseases among children of 6 to 12 months old were suffering from anemia in Raqqa. People began migrating towards the urban areas causing an 80 percent lack of enrolment in schools.

The drought caused such distress to the environment and the people of Syria that it is speculated to have been the reason behind the Arab Spring that occurred in 2011. The Assad government had an over-concentration of benefits of economic reform, patronage and it was assured that the opportunities landed in the hands of the President's family and elite groups causing a mismanagement of natural resources. This affected the agricultural sector causing the government to put an end to subsidies in 2008 and 2009. Tensions began rising when the people of Syria could no longer afford basic necessities such as food and gasoline.