Syria is a country in Western Asia that is in the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, Israel to the southwest, and Lebanon to the southwest are the country's 14 governorates (subdivisions). Cyprus is across the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Syria is home to a wide range of ethnic and religious groups, including the majority of Syrian Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Armenians, Circassians, Albanians, and Greeks. The country also has fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze, and Yazidis are among the religious groups. Damascus is Syria's largest and capital city. Muslims make up the largest religious group, while Arabs make up the largest ethnic group. Ba'athism, an ideology that promotes Arab socialism and Arab nationalism, is only in power in Syria.

In the past, the term "Syria" was used to refer to a larger region that was generally referred to as al-Sham in Arabic and was synonymous with the Levant. The Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC is one of the ancient kingdoms and empires whose ruins can be found within the modern state. Aleppo and Damascus, Syria's capital, are two of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Damascus was both an Egyptian provincial capital and the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate during the Islamic era. After centuries of Ottoman rule, the modern state of Syria was established in the middle of the 20th century. The newly formed state was the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Syrian provinces after a period of French mandate (1923–1966). On October 24, 1945, the Republic of Syria became a founding member of the United Nations, officially ending the former French Mandate (though French troops did not leave the country until April 1946). This gave it de jure independence as a democratic parliamentary republic.