Iskenderun is a city in Hatay, now a province of modern-day Turkey, along the south coast of the Mediterranean, near the border with Syria. In ancient times, the city of Alexandretta (built by and named for Alexander the Great) was located on the same site, near the pass to Syria. The city was part of the Ottoman Empire, until its collapse after World War I, then was part of the French-controlled Syria before being part of the short-lived Republic of Hatay, which joined Turkey in 1939.