E. I. USTINOV Candidate of Historical Sciences Keywords: Syrian crisis, ethno-confessional structure, socio-political dynamics, destabilization of the ethno-confessional balance The multidimensional nature of transformational political processes in the Arab world dictates the urgent need for their careful study and analysis. Recent events show that the ethno-confessional field is one of the areas where political, economic, informational, moral, psychological, and military tools of global, regional, and local players are intertwined. This fully applies to the Syrian Arab Republic( SAR), where the crisis situation has reached the level of a civil war. A detailed examination of the ethno-confessional structure of this Arab country, the features and role of its most significant elements in the socio-political dynamics, the steps taken by the Syrian authorities to resolve the crisis, as well as the methods of ethno-confessional manipulation by external forces allows us to approach a more balanced assessment and understanding of the events taking place in the country1. In the pre-crisis period, Syria enjoyed the status of one of the leading States in the Middle East. This position was supported by the foreign policy activity of the republic's leadership in consistently opposing Israel's aggressive policy in the region, the US plans for a separate settlement of the Middle East crisis, the development of partnership relations with Russia, close cooperation with Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. The formation of the internal political situation in Syria is due to the influence of the multi-layered factor of its ethno-confessional structure. The population of the SAR is about 21 million people (according to the UN 2011 data).2): Arabs - 15 million (Syrian origin - 14.2 million, Palestinian origin - 581 thousand, Lebanese origin - 100 thousand, Iraqi origin-60 thousand, Jordanian origin-40 thousand), Kurds-1.66 million, Turkmens-132 thousand, ... Read more