Popular Struggle Front, PSF - a terrorist group of radical Palestinians who split with al-Fatah in 1967 but now have close relations with al-Fatah; staged terrorist attacks against Israel across the Lebanese border

Arab League - an international organization of independent Arab states formed in 1945 to promote cultural and economic and military and political and social cooperation

Asian country, Asian nation - countries occupying the Asian continent

Middle East, Mideast, Near East - the area around the eastern Mediterranean; from Turkey to northern Africa and eastward to Iran; the site of such ancient civilizations as Phoenicia and Babylon and Egypt and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity and Islam; had continuous economic and political turmoil in the 20th century; "the Middle East is the cradle of Western civilization"

Aram - the biblical name for ancient Syria

capital of Syria, Damascus - an ancient city (widely regarded as the world's oldest) and present capital and largest city of Syria; according to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul (then known as Saul) underwent a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus

Alep, Aleppo - a city in northwestern Syria

Kurdistan - an extensive geographical region in the Middle East south of the Caucacus

Asia - the largest continent with 60% of the earth's population; it is joined to Europe on the west to form Eurasia; it is the site of some of the world's earliest civilizations

Euphrates, Euphrates River - a river in southwestern Asia; flows into the Persian Gulf; was important in the development of several great civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia

Tigris, Tigris River - an Asian river; a tributary of the Euphrates River

Syrian - a native or inhabitant of Syria