People
The largest religious and ethnic group in the Levant is Sunni Muslim Arabs, but there are also many other groups. Until the mid-20th century, there were Jews all across the Levant; now most are in Israel, joining those who returned from the diaspora under Zionism. There are many Christian Arabs, belonging to the Antiochian Orthodox (Greek/Eastern Orthodox), Maronite Catholic, belonging to the eastern Catholic, and Oriental Orthodox churches. There are Assyrians, belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East (autonomous) and the Chaldean Catholic Church (Catholic). There are largely Sunni Muslim Kurds. There are Shia Muslims (Alawite, Twelvers, and Ismailis) and Druze. There are Armenians, mostly belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church. There are a few Arab and Armenian Protestant Christians. There are Latin Catholics, called Levantines or Franco-Levantines. There are also Circassians, Turks, Samaritans, Bedouins and Yazidis.
Read more about this topic: Levant
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