What do the colors on Syria's flag stand for?

Red symbolizes the struggle and sacrifice for freedom; white signifies peace; and black stands for the dark colonial past. The flag is supposed to represent the former United Arab Republic, as these two green stars in the middle represent Egypt and Syria together. However, Hafez al-Assad reuse this flag in 1980 to create as the Syrian flag when the former UAR flag is no longer flag of Egypt when Anwar el-Sadat becomes president.