Attitudes and Experiences of Crossing the Syrian Border: Social Consciousness Interpreted from Quantitative Analysis of Public Opinion Surveys

The chapter examines who the Syrians are who have experienced or aspire to live abroad, why they choose their travel or desired destinations, and what factors are related to the preference of their destination, as well as to interpret the general reality and desires of Syrians’ international migration. To achieve this purpose, this chapter will conduct a quantitative analysis based on the data from the national opinion survey “National Opinion Survey in the Syrian Arab Republic”, which was conducted at the end of 2007 as part of the “Middle East in Asia—Focusing on Economy and Law” project, a needs-responsive regional research promotion project targeted at the world by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2006. Relaying on the survey, this chapter let the characteristics of Syrians who have lived abroad and who wish to travel abroad clearer. The other hand, network-based experiences for migration to Iraq which is assumed in argument on infiltration of Mujahidun into Iraq via Syria was not verified.