Latakia is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mare. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a significant manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages. According to 2023 estimate, the population of the city is 709,000, its population greatly increased as a result of the ongoing Syrian Civil War, which led to an influx of internally displaced persons from rebel held areas. It is the 4th-largest city in Syria after Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs. It borders Tartus to the south, Hama to the east, and Idlib to the north, and Cape Apostolos Andreas, the north-eastern tip of Cyprus, is about 109 kilometres (68 mi) away.

The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, concerning Syria and Lebanon. The mandate system was supposed to differ from colonialism, with the governing country intended to act as a trustee until the inhabitants were considered eligible for self-government. At that point, the mandate would terminate and a sovereign state would be born.