MASHRIQ

geographic region extending from the western border of Egypt to the western border of Iran. It includes the modern states of Egypt, The Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq and covers an area of approximately 2,700,000 square miles (7,000,000 square km). The Mashriq comprises two major physical regions. One consists of barren desert areas that are dominated by the great plateau of the Arabian Peninsula and that support the nomadic Bedouin people. Average summer temperatures in this region exceed 120 F (48.9 C). The other region consists of the rich and fertile territory that is generally defined by the Fertile Crescent. Long considered to have been the cradle of civilization, the Fertile Crescent extends in an arc from the Nile River valley through Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria and into Iraq. At either tip of the crescent is a river valleythat of the Tigris and Euphrates in the east and that of the Nile in the westthat is annually flooded and replenished with alluvium.