Liwa or Liwā '(Arabic: لواء) is a term in Arabic, لواء meaning pavilion. The word has derived in several meanings in Arabic:
In the Ottoman Empire, the term liwa was used in a totally interchangeable way with its Turkish counterpart sanjacado. After the fall of the empire, the term continued to be used in the Arab countries that had been under its dominion, although it was gradually replaced by others like qadaa and mintaqa and to day of today it is in disuse. It is only occasionally used in Syria in to the Province of Hatay, ceded by the French Mandate of Syria to Turkey in 1939, at which time it was known as Liwa 'Iskenderun.
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