From Britannica https://www.britannica.com/place/Levant
Extract:
Although the Levant is not defined in geological terms, the region shares general geographic characteristics that archaeologists and anthropologists consider influential, though not determinative, for human movement and interaction.
- Narrow humid plains run along the length of the coast, albeit discontinuously, and have long served as a common corridor between trade networks to the north, west, and east; the Via Maris connecting Egypt with the Fertile Crescent passed through the southern coastal plains of the Levant.
- A short distance inland the terrain becomes hilly or mountainous, parallel to the Afro-Arabian Rift Valley system just to the east, with arid or semiarid climate east of the elevation.
- Human settlement is relatively sparse east of the rift, but oases, such as Damascus, and the uplands east of the Jordan River support urban settlements that are interdependent with those of the coastal plains.
- The Syrian Desert and the broader Arabian Desert separate the Levant from Mesopotamia and Arabia, respectively.
