In general terms, Syria is a flat desert plateau, dissected by mountains with a narrow coastal plain that fronts the
Mediterranean Sea.
In the west-central and north the Anti-Lebanon and Bishri mountains dominate the landscape. The highest point, Mt Hermon, stands in the far southwest at 9,232 ft. (2,814 m).
Significant bodies of water include Lake al-Assad (a man-made reservoir,) created by a dam on the Euphrates River.
The Euphrates and its longest tributary, the Khabur (both rising in the mountains of
Turkey) are the major rivers. Dozens of much smaller rivers flow down into the central valleys.
