Syria is located in the Middle East at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Lebanon and Israel to the west, Jordan to the south and Iraq to the east. The topography consists of a narrow coastal plain in the west which rises up to the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range which runs parallel with the coast. South of this is the Homs Gap, beyond which are Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains which separate Syria from Lebanon. Further east is a large area of steppe or Badia in the centre of the country. This is divided by the River Euphrates, on which a dam was built in 1973 creating a reservoir, Lake Assad, which is the largest lake in Syria. In the east and south of the country is the Syrian Desert and in the far south is the Jabal al-Druze Mountain Range.