Iraq
Iraq occupies an area once home to some of the earliest known civilizations. The mainly Shia-led governments that have held power have struggled to maintain order, and the country has enjoyed only brief periods of respite from high levels of sectarian violence.
Syria
A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of whom make up a majority of the Muslim population. Since 2011 political power, long held by a small mainly Alawite elite, has been contested in a bitter civil conflict initially sparked by the Arab Spring that turned into a complex war involving regional and international powers.