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Syria’s Neighborhood
Syria is located at the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, though its shoreline extends only about one hundred miles, north-south. To its north is Turkey. To its east and southeast lies Iraq. Jordan is directly south of Syria, while Israel and Lebanon are found at the lower half of Syria’s western border.
Natural Features
Syria has two narrow mountain ranges: one, the "Anti-Lebanon" range, which marks the border with Lebanon, and another facing the Mediterranean coast. Desert covers the greater portion of Syria’s land. Irrigated areas include:
- The far northeastern tip, watered by the Tigris River
- The Euphrates River Valley, which extends from the Turkish border, some 75 miles northeast of Aleppo, meandering first south into Lake Asad, then southeast all the way to the center point of the border with Iraq
- The Mediterranean coastal area
- The western region in general
- Damascus, which is supplied with water from the Barada River. This waterway has its source in the Anti-Lebanon mountains.
A succession of oases [lie] east of the eastern mountain system on the edge of the steppe, and [are] fed by short local streams. Of these the most important are, from north to south, (a) the Saltpan of Jebeil, fed by the North al-Dahab; (b) the oases of Kinnesrin and Aleppo, fed by the North Kuwaik; and (c) that of Sham or Damascus, fed by streams from Hermon, of which the Barada (Abana) and the Awaj (Pharpar) are the chief tributaries.
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