Original post by FiveFiveSixS'alright. At the risk of negging, Syria is a hole. Syrians in general are complete throbbers. At least, the shabaab are - the older generation are pretty decent. They bang on about how awesome Syria is, how historic, how great the country is etc... It gets a little old, especially when it's balls!
The Syrians are worse than the Egyptians in terms of trying to rip you off - At least the Egyptians are upfront about it, the Syrians pretend that you're all matey before taking your money.
That said, there is a minority of decent Syrian shabaab, and I have the great fortune to be friends with several of them. Unfortunately I live in the Old City, and the shabaab who live and work in the Old City are markedly different (and a lot worse) than those in the New City.
The friendliest (and most genuine!) people I've ever met are the Iraqis, the Kurds and the Omanis (definitely the best and most friendly, generous and decent people in the Gulf). Everywhere else I've travelled or lived in the Middle East tends to be full of Arabs who very sadly propagate the stereotypes. I've never met an Omani or Iraqi I didn't like, I've only met one Kurd that was a thieving bastard, but the number of times I've had angry words or worse with a Tunisian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Turk or Syrian...
NB. This is speaking from a general point of view, and one of (little) experience. Don't hate!