Syria is still standing. 

Who to buy weapons from? Imperialist USA or the USSR Borg Collective? Decisions, decisions.... maybe Her Majesty's government will be looking to invest? I'm going to read up on where Syria "went wrong" IRL and see what I can do, realisticly, to turn it into a Middle Eastern power. I have a strange feeling that like many other states, a military dictator keeps the religious strife at bay, and democracy might be a bloody pathway to a theocratic tyranny. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.