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MIDDLE EAMIDDLE EAST Regions From west to east: Nile River (orange) Eastern Mediterranean (purple) - Levant Anatolian Plateau (brown) Arabian Peninsula (red) Mesopotamia (green) Zagros Mountains (yellow) Deserts The Rub' al Khali the area of long. 44°30′−56°30′E, and lat. 16°30′−23°00′...

MIDDLE EAMIDDLE EAST Regions From west to east: Nile River (orange) Eastern Mediterranean (purple) - Levant Anatolian Plateau (brown) Arabian Peninsula (red) Mesopotamia (green) Zagros Mountains (yellow) Deserts The Rub' al Khali the area of long. 44°30′−56°30′E, and lat. 16°30′−23°00′N) including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert Dasht-e Kavir or the Kavir Desert, also known as Kavir-e Namak or the Great Salt Desert, is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian Plateau. Rig-a-Jenn is a subsection The Nafud desert or simply The Nafud is an erg desert in the northern part of the Arabian occupying a great oval depression. The Negev is a large desert region in southern Israel. Its main city is Be’er Sheva The Lut Desert, widely referred to as Dasht-e Lut (Persian: ‫دﺷت ﻟوت‬, "Emptiness Plain"), is a salt desert located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran The Syrian Desert is located in southern and eastern Syria, and extends to envelope large portions of Jordan and western Iraq. Mountains Jebel al Akhdar is a small range of mountains located in northeastern Oman, bordering the Gulf of Oman. Pontus Mountains (Mt. Kackar) and Taurus Mountains (Mt Demirzazik) in Turkey. Alborz mountains in Iran. Damavand, the highest summit of Alborz Zagros mountains in Iran (Hazaran) Sarawat Mountains in Yemen a Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb (3,666 m / 12,027 ft), the highest and the most prominent peak of the range, the country, and the whole Arabian Peninsul Rivers Lakes Oasis Seas: The region is surrounded by eight major seas; the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. IRAN Facts Iran is located in West Asia and borders the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman. Topographically, it is predominantly located on the Persian Plateau. Important Places Ruins of Persepolis - city of Mardvasth. Rivers Karun Mountains Mount Damavand is a dormant stratovolcano and is the highest peak in Iran and Western Asia, the highest volcano in Asia, and the 3rd highest volcano in the Eastern Hemisphere (after Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount [a Elbrus), at an elevation of 5,609 metres (18,402 ft). It is in the middle of the Alborz range. It is near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, in Amol City, Mazandaran State, 66 km (41 mi) northeast of the city of Tehran Lake Lake Urmia (permanent salt lake) Deserts Two salt deserts, the Dasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert) and the Dasht-e Lut Cities Tehran Golestan Palace National Jewellry museum Azadi tower Milad tower Tabiat bridge Mt Damavand can be seen on a clear day Mashhad  Second largest city. It’s centered on the vast Holy Shrine of Imam Reza, with golden domes and minarets that are floodlit at night. The circular complex also contains the tomb of Lebanese scholar Sheikh Bahai. The 15th-century, tile-fronted Goharshad Mosque, with a turquoise dome. Museums within the shrine include the Carpet Museum, with many rare pieces Isfahan Isfahan, the third largest city of modern-day Iran, is famed for its natural and architectural splendor. Most accounts of its beauty refer to the Safavid period: Isfahan was the storied capital of Iran from 1598 to 1722 CE, inspiring the famous adage "Isfahan nisf-i-jahan" (Isfahan is half the world Naqsh-e-jahan square Sheikh Lotfollah mosque Ali Qapu is an imperial palace in Isfahan, Iran Vank cathedral The Allahverdi Khan Bridge, popularly known as Si-o-se-pol, Ethnic Groups Azerbaijanis, also known as Azeris, are the second largest ethnic group in Iran, making up an estimated 16% of the total population. They are a Turkic-speaking community found in northwestern Iran close to the border with Azerbaijan. Iraq Facts  In Arabic, Iraq means 'deep-rooted, well-watered, fertile'. The cuneiform script came into the world in southern Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq, 3400 BC. The geography of Iraq is diverse and falls into five main regions: the desert (west of the Euphrates), Upper Mesopotamia (between the upper Tigris and Euphrates rivers), the northern highlands of Iraq, Lower Mesopotamia, and the alluvial plain extending from around Tikrit to the Persian Gulf. Important Places Imam Ali Shrine, Najaf The Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein, Karbala These two places are the third and fourth holiest sites for Shia muslims Taq kasra. Taq Kasra, also known as the Arch of Ctesiphon, is a famous ancient monument. Ctesiphon itself was an ancient Persian city where Taq Kasra is located. The only structure that remained from Ctesiphon is this beautiful Persian arch which was part of a Persian imperial palace complex built by the Iranian Sassanid Empire probably sometime between the 3rd and 6th centuries.This spectacular architectural masterpiece is considered the largest single-span vault of unreinforced brickwork in the entire world. The hall with the arched iwan was approximately 37 meters high and 50 meters long. Rivers Tigris: The Tigris also rises in Turkey but is significantly augmented by several rivers in Iraq, the most important of which are the Khabur, the Great Zab, the Little Zab, and the Adhaim, all of which join the Tigris above Baghdad, and the Diyala, which joins it about thirty-six kilometers below the city Euphrates : The Euphrates originates in Turkey, is augmented by the Balikh and Khabur rivers in Syria, and enters Iraq in the northwest. Mountains Cheekha Dar which means Black Tent, is the local Kurdish name for the mountain, located in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, currently thought to be the highest in Iraq. Deserts Iraq has a large desert region in the west and south of the country that covers almost two-fifths of the country's land. The desert is part of the Arabian Desert and includes the following areas: Al-Hajarah The western part of the southern desert, with a complex topography of ridges, wadis, rocky desert, and depressions Al-Dibdibah The eastern part of the southern desert, with a more sandy region and scrub vegetation Western desert An extension of the Syrian Desert that rises to elevations above 1,600 feet (490 meters) Cities Baghdad: Freedom Monument Martyr’s Memorial (Al-Shaheed Monument) Al Mutanabbi is Baghdad’s most popular street, home to many ancient bookshops and a century-old café, Shabandar Tahrir Square Al Rasheed Street – main market street Al-Mustansiriya Madrasa Banks of Tigris Mosul: Mar Motti monastery - a 4th century BC Christian monastery. Al-Nouri Mosque and Al-Hadba minaret. In 2018, UNESCO launched a flagship initiative to Revive the Spirit of Mosul 2014-2017 was the capital of ISIL/Daesh. Basra:  Basra is a major port and trading center where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet to form the Shatt Al-Arab river. This is the southern border between Iran and Iraq. It is also known as the city from which Sinbad set out in The Thousand and One Nights University of Basrah: The oldest university in the Arabic Gulf Samarra: Samarra was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, which is the third caliphate succeeding the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Only Islamic capital in the world that preserved its original layout, architecture and artistic relics Also on Tigris Ethnic Groups Arabs: The majority ethnic group, making up 75–80% of the population Kurds: The largest ethnic minority, making up 15–20% of the population Turkmen: The third largest ethnic group SAUDI ARABIA Facts The King Fahd International Airport in Dammam City in Saudi Arabia is the largest in the world. Rubʿ al-Khali, also known as the Empty Quarter, is spread across 650,000 sq. kilometers of which 80 percent lies in the southern part of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest desert in the Arabian Peninsula. In the Hejaz province of Saudi Arabia, there is a volcanic field named Harrat Khaybar. Its latest eruption can be traced to the 600-700 A.D. Al Habala is an abandoned village in Asir, Saudi Arabia. Located about 61 km from the city of Abha, the village was built 370 years ago by the Khatani Tribe. They settled here to avoid invasions of the Ottoman Empire. It was abandoned in the year 1990s.The tribe used rope leaders to commute before. Now, there are cable cars to visit their village. An emerging tourist spot, people can experience  their cultural dances, take a tour of the village, try a cable car experience, or visit the Al Habala Park. The Ghawar Oil Field is the largest in the country Important Places Hejaz’s Railways old stations and tracks made famous by Lawrence of Arabia Madain Salah - the rock-hewn Nabataean city Wadi Al Disah Near Tabuk in the north of the country, the Al Disah Valley looks like an otherworldly mix of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley – an epic collection of sandstone columns in a vast hollow, where the dusty amber desert is interrupted by a valley of swaying high grasses and palm trees. Hegra There are perhaps no more recognisable sights in Saudi than the monumental rock-cut tombs suspended in the majestic desert at Hegra, near Al Ula in the heart of the kingdom. If these 131 enigmatic mausoleums recall the ancient ruins of Petra, Just west of the capital Riyadh, the Edge of the World (Jebel Fihrayn) Al Balad, Jeddah Many Saudi cities have a historic quarter, often called Al Balad and marked by the scent of exotic spices and the beautiful cries of the call to prayer. Balad in Jeddah, Saudi’s cosmopolitan port city, is the most evocative of all – a series of tight alleyways between ancient coral-stone merchants' houses, home to oud sellers, clove-scented traditional bakeries and the vast, glowing Souq Al Alawi. Rijal Almaa Widely referred to as the Gingerbread Village, Rijal Almaa’s blocky stone buildings with bright shutters celebrated at the Flowerman Festival every August. ST Regions From west to east: Nile River (orange) Eastern Mediterranean (purple) - Levant Anatolian Plateau (brown) Arabian Peninsula (red) Mesopotamia (green) Zagros Mountains (yellow) Deserts The Rub' al Khali the area of long. 44°30′−56°30′E, and lat. 16°30′−23°00′N) including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert Dasht-e Kavir or the Kavir Desert, also known as Kavir-e Namak or the Great Salt Desert, is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian Plateau. Rig-a-Jenn is a subsection The Nafud desert or simply The Nafud is an erg desert in the northern part of the Arabian occupying a great oval depression. The Negev is a large desert region in southern Israel. Its main city is Be’er Sheva The Lut Desert, widely referred to as Dasht-e Lut (Persian: ‫دﺷت ﻟوت‬, "Emptiness Plain"), is a salt desert located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran The Syrian Desert is located in southern and eastern Syria, and extends to envelope large portions of Jordan and western Iraq. Mountains Jebel al Akhdar is a small range of mountains located in northeastern Oman, bordering the Gulf of Oman. Pontus Mountains (Mt. Kackar) and Taurus Mountains (Mt Demirzazik) in Turkey. Alborz mountains in Iran. Damavand, the highest summit of Alborz Zagros mountains in Iran (Hazaran) Sarawat Mountains in Yemen a Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb (3,666 m / 12,027 ft), the highest and the most prominent peak of the range, the country, and the whole Arabian Peninsul Rivers Lakes Oasis Seas: The region is surrounded by eight major seas; the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. IRAN Facts Iran is located in West Asia and borders the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman. Topographically, it is predominantly located on the Persian Plateau. Important Places Ruins of Persepolis - city of Mardvasth. Rivers Karun Mountains Mount Damavand is a dormant stratovolcano and is the highest peak in Iran and Western Asia, the highest volcano in Asia, and the 3rd highest volcano in the Eastern Hemisphere (after Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount [a Elbrus), at an elevation of 5,609 metres (18,402 ft). It is in the middle of the Alborz range. It is near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, in Amol City, Mazandaran State, 66 km (41 mi) northeast of the city of Tehran Lake Lake Urmia (permanent salt lake) Deserts Two salt deserts, the Dasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert) and the Dasht-e Lut Cities Tehran Golestan Palace National Jewellry museum Azadi tower Milad tower Tabiat bridge Mt Damavand can be seen on a clear day Mashhad  Second largest city. It’s centered on the vast Holy Shrine of Imam Reza, with golden domes and minarets that are floodlit at night. The circular complex also contains the tomb of Lebanese scholar Sheikh Bahai. The 15th-century, tile-fronted Goharshad Mosque, with a turquoise dome. Museums within the shrine include the Carpet Museum, with many rare pieces Isfahan Isfahan, the third largest city of modern-day Iran, is famed for its natural and architectural splendor. Most accounts of its beauty refer to the Safavid period: Isfahan was the storied capital of Iran from 1598 to 1722 CE, inspiring the famous adage "Isfahan nisf-i-jahan" (Isfahan is half the world Naqsh-e-jahan square Sheikh Lotfollah mosque Ali Qapu is an imperial palace in Isfahan, Iran Vank cathedral The Allahverdi Khan Bridge, popularly known as Si-o-se-pol, Ethnic Groups Azerbaijanis, also known as Azeris, are the second largest ethnic group in Iran, making up an estimated 16% of the total population. They are a Turkic-speaking community found in northwestern Iran close to the border with Azerbaijan. Iraq Facts  In Arabic, Iraq means 'deep-rooted, well-watered, fertile'. The cuneiform script came into the world in southern Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq, 3400 BC. The geography of Iraq is diverse and falls into five main regions: the desert (west of the Euphrates), Upper Mesopotamia (between the upper Tigris and Euphrates rivers), the northern highlands of Iraq, Lower Mesopotamia, and the alluvial plain extending from around Tikrit to the Persian Gulf. Important Places Imam Ali Shrine, Najaf The Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein, Karbala These two places are the third and fourth holiest sites for Shia muslims Taq kasra. Taq Kasra, also known as the Arch of Ctesiphon, is a famous ancient monument. Ctesiphon itself was an ancient Persian city where Taq Kasra is located. The only structure that remained from Ctesiphon is this beautiful Persian arch which was part of a Persian imperial palace complex built by the Iranian Sassanid Empire probably sometime between the 3rd and 6th centuries.This spectacular architectural masterpiece is considered the largest single-span vault of unreinforced brickwork in the entire world. The hall with the arched iwan was approximately 37 meters high and 50 meters long. Rivers Tigris: The Tigris also rises in Turkey but is significantly augmented by several rivers in Iraq, the most important of which are the Khabur, the Great Zab, the Little Zab, and the Adhaim, all of which join the Tigris above Baghdad, and the Diyala, which joins it about thirty-six kilometers below the city Euphrates : The Euphrates originates in Turkey, is augmented by the Balikh and Khabur rivers in Syria, and enters Iraq in the northwest. Mountains Cheekha Dar which means Black Tent, is the local Kurdish name for the mountain, located in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, currently thought to be the highest in Iraq. Deserts Iraq has a large desert region in the west and south of the country that covers almost two-fifths of the country's land. The desert is part of the Arabian Desert and includes the following areas: Al-Hajarah The western part of the southern desert, with a complex topography of ridges, wadis, rocky desert, and depressions Al-Dibdibah The eastern part of the southern desert, with a more sandy region and scrub vegetation Western desert An extension of the Syrian Desert that rises to elevations above 1,600 feet (490 meters) Cities Baghdad: Freedom Monument Martyr’s Memorial (Al-Shaheed Monument) Al Mutanabbi is Baghdad’s most popular street, home to many ancient bookshops and a century-old café, Shabandar Tahrir Square Al Rasheed Street – main market street Al-Mustansiriya Madrasa Banks of Tigris Mosul: Mar Motti monastery - a 4th century BC Christian monastery. Al-Nouri Mosque and Al-Hadba minaret. In 2018, UNESCO launched a flagship initiative to Revive the Spirit of Mosul 2014-2017 was the capital of ISIL/Daesh. Basra:  Basra is a major port and trading center where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet to form the Shatt Al-Arab river. This is the southern border between Iran and Iraq. It is also known as the city from which Sinbad set out in The Thousand and One Nights University of Basrah: The oldest university in the Arabic Gulf Samarra: Samarra was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, which is the third caliphate succeeding the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Only Islamic capital in the world that preserved its original layout, architecture and artistic relics Also on Tigris Ethnic Groups Arabs: The majority ethnic group, making up 75–80% of the population Kurds: The largest ethnic minority, making up 15–20% of the population Turkmen: The third largest ethnic group SAUDI ARABIA Facts The King Fahd International Airport in Dammam City in Saudi Arabia is the largest in the world. Rubʿ al-Khali, also known as the Empty Quarter, is spread across 650,000 sq. kilometers of which 80 percent lies in the southern part of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest desert in the Arabian Peninsula. In the Hejaz province of Saudi Arabia, there is a volcanic field named Harrat Khaybar. Its latest eruption can be traced to the 600-700 A.D. Al Habala is an abandoned village in Asir, Saudi Arabia. Located about 61 km from the city of Abha, the village was built 370 years ago by the Khatani Tribe. They settled here to avoid invasions of the Ottoman Empire. It was abandoned in the year 1990s.The tribe used rope leaders to commute before. Now, there are cable cars to visit their village. An emerging tourist spot, people can experience  their cultural dances, take a tour of the village, try a cable car experience, or visit the Al Habala Park. The Ghawar Oil Field is the largest in the country Important Places Hejaz’s Railways old stations and tracks made famous by Lawrence of Arabia Madain Salah - the rock-hewn Nabataean city Wadi Al Disah Near Tabuk in the north of the country, the Al Disah Valley looks like an otherworldly mix of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley – an epic collection of sandstone columns in a vast hollow, where the dusty amber desert is interrupted by a valley of swaying high grasses and palm trees. Hegra There are perhaps no more recognisable sights in Saudi than the monumental rock-cut tombs suspended in the majestic desert at Hegra, near Al Ula in the heart of the kingdom. If these 131 enigmatic mausoleums recall the ancient ruins of Petra, Just west of the capital Riyadh, the Edge of the World (Jebel Fihrayn) Al Balad, Jeddah Many Saudi cities have a historic quarter, often called Al Balad and marked by the scent of exotic spices and the beautiful cries of the call to prayer. Balad in Jeddah, Saudi’s cosmopolitan port city, is the most evocative of all – a series of tight alleyways between ancient coral-stone merchants' houses, home to oud sellers, clove-scented traditional bakeries and the vast, glowing Souq Al Alawi. Rijal Almaa Widely referred to as the Gingerbread Village, Rijal Almaa’s blocky stone buildings with bright shutters celebrated at the Flowerman Festival every August.