Syria (officially the Syrian Arab Republic) is a country in Western Asia, which borders Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. The capital is Damascus which, along with its largest city Aleppo, are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities worldwide. The country is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, with Sunni making up the largest religious group. The modern Syrian state was established in the mid-twentieth century after centuries of Ottoman mandate and a brief French mandate. Syria has been plagued by armed conflict and civil war in the twenty-first century. Recent wars, including the Syrian Civil War, have claimed hundreds of thousands of live and displaced millions of people and refugees.