Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Levant is a subregion of West Asia along the Eastern Mediterranean that forms part of the Middle East. In its narrowest archaeological sense it refers to Cyprus and the lands bordering the Levantine Sea, including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and south Cilicia in Turkey.
The name Levant comes from the Italian word levante, meaning "rising," which refers to the rising of the sun in the east. It derives ultimately from the Latin verb levare, meaning "lift, raise," and entered English in 1497 meaning "the East" or "Mediterranean lands east of Italy."
The Levant is used for Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey, which are sometimes considered Levant countries. After World War I, the term came to refer to modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Cyprus.
The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire. A French company was founded for the same purpose in 1670, and the English merchant company had signed its agreement, called capitulations, with the Ottoman Sultan in 1579.
The majority of Levantines are Muslims, mostly Sunnis following the Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, and Maliki schools, though the region is also the birthplace of Christianity and home to Jews, Samaritans, Druze, and Yazidis. Most people speak Levantine Arabic, while Cyprus uses Turkish and Greek, Israel uses Modern Hebrew, and Western Neo-Aramaic survives in the Syrian villages of Maaloula, Jubb'adin, and Bakhah.
The population of the modern Levant border is approximately 57.6 million, made up of the populations of Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine. The total life expectancy across these states is recorded as 76.4 years.