The
Levant (ləˈvænt,
بلاد الشام ') or المشرق العربي ';
Hebrew:
כְּנָעַן '), also known as
Greater Syria or the
Eastern Mediterranean, is a geographic and cultural region consisting of the "eastern Mediterranean
littoral between
Anatolia and
Egypt". The Levant consists today of
Lebanon,
Syria,
Jordan,
Israel, the
Gaza Strip, the
West Bank,
East Jerusalem, the
Golan Heights,
Cyprus,
Hatay Province and other parts of southern
Turkey.
Iraq and the
Sinai Peninsula are also sometimes included.
Precise definitions have varied over time, and the term originally had a broader and less well defined usage. The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of
western Asia, the
eastern Mediterranean and
northeast Africa".