Syria, with a total area of 185.180 km², is bordered in the north by Turkey, in the east and southeast by Iraq, in the south by Jordan, in the south-west by Palestine and in the west by Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea.

Administratively, the country is divided into 14 governorates, one of which being the capital Damascus.

The country can be divided into 4 physiographic regions:

• The coastal region between the mountains and the sea;
• The mountains and the highlands extending from north to south parallel to the Mediterranean coast;
• The plains, or interior, located east of the highlands and including the plains of Damascus, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Al-Hassakeh and Dara'a;
• The Badiah and the desert plains in the south-eastern part of the country, bordering Jordan and Iraq.

The total population is 18 million (2004), of which 48% is rural. Actual population growth is 3.3%. In 1993, agriculture employed around 17.1% of the total labour force, accounted for nearly 22% of GDP and 60% of non-oil exports.

Syria's climate is Mediterranean with continental influence: cool rainy winters and warm dry summers, with relatively short spring and autumn seasons. Large parts of Syria are exposed to high variability in daily temperature. The maximum difference in daily temperature can be as high as 32°C in the interior and about 13°C in the coastal region. Total annual precipitation ranges from 100 to 150 mm in the north-west, 150 to 200 mm from the south towards the central and east-central areas, 300 to 600 mm in the plains and along the foothills in the west, and 800 to 1000 mm along the coast, increasing to 1400 mm in the mountains. The average annual rainfall in the country is 252 mm giving 46.6 km³.