82 articles
Abū al-Kahṣīb
Abu al-Khasib (أبو الخصيب), also Abi al-Khasib, is a town and district southeast of Basra, Iraq, on the Shatt al-Arab, famed for date palms and hit by 2018 water salinity crisis.
Abū Ghurayb
Abū Ghurayb (أبو غريب), also rendered Abu Ghraib, is a large city in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, just west of Baghdad, and the seat of Abu Ghraib District.
Acre, Israel
Acre (Akko, Akka) is a walled port city on Israel's northern coast, Crusader capital 1104-1291, UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, and one of Israel's mixed Jewish-Arab cities with the country's lowest residential segregation index.
Al Diwaniyah
Al Diwaniyah (الديوانية), capital of Al-Qadisiyah Governorate in southern Iraq on the Shatt Al-Diwaniya Euphrates branch, about 180 km south of Baghdad; city of about 392,000 with an agricultural economy, very low living costs, and strained services.
Al Maḩmūdīyah, Baghdad
Al Maḩmūdīyah (المحمودية), the 'Gateway to Baghdad', is a city and district in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, about 20-30 km south of the capital, with roughly 550,000 residents (2006), farmland, and a history as the heart of the 'Triangle of Death' insurgency belt.
Al Miqdādīyah
Al Miqdādīyah (المقدادية), formerly Shahraban, is a city and district seat in Diyala Governorate, Iraq, 42 km east of Baquba; agricultural center known for pomegranates, with 63 recorded archaeological sites.
Al Qāmishlī
Al Qāmishlī (القامشلي; Qamishlo, Zalin), city in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, on the Turkish border. Founded under the French Mandate in the 1920s by Assyrian refugees; grain-trade center; four community names; government forces entered February 2026.
Al-Hasakah
Al-Hasakah (Kurdish: Heşîçe) is a city in northeastern Syria and the capital of Al-Hasakah Governorate, situated at the confluence of the Jaghjagh and Khabur rivers.
Aleppo (حلب)
Aleppo (حلب), Syria's second largest city, a trade hub since the 2nd millennium B.C.; its UNESCO-listed old city, citadel and souk were heavily damaged in the 2012–2016 battle, with reconstruction ongoing.
Amarah
Amarah (Arabic: العمارة), capital of Maysan Governorate in southeastern Iraq on the Tigris, founded 1861 as an Ottoman camp; hot desert climate, about 511,000 to 646,000 residents, oil and farm trade center.
Amman (عمّان)
Amman (عمّان), capital and largest city of Jordan, formerly Rabbat Ammon and Roman Philadelphia. Governed by Greater Amman Municipality (800 km², over 4 million people); made Transjordan's capital in 1921; noted for rapid urban growth and water scarcity.
Aqaba (العقبة)
Aqaba (العقبة) is Jordan's only coastal city and seaport, on the Gulf of Aqaba at the Red Sea's northern head, known for its 27 km coastline, coral reefs, medieval Ayla, and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
Ar Ramthā
Ar Ramthā (الرمثا), Ramtha, is a city in far northwest Jordan's Irbid Governorate near the Syrian border, 10 km from Daraa. Known for its bahhara cross-border traders and border-trade economy disrupted by the Syrian war.
Ash Sharqāt
Ash Sharqāt (الشرقاط), also Al-Shirqat, is a town in Salah al-Din Governorate, Iraq, on the Tigris, beside the ruins of ancient Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat), first Assyrian capital and UNESCO World Heritage in Danger site.
Ash Shaţrah
Ash Shaţrah (الشطرة), also Al-Shatrah, is a town in Dhi Qar Governorate, southern Iraq, founded in 1872 on the Gharraf Canal, once called "Little Baghdad," district capital with about 182,000 residents and a hot desert climate.
Ashdod (אשדוד)
Ashdod, also known as Isdud in Arabic (أسدود), is a coastal city in southern Israel, built from 1956 around one of the country's two main sea ports.
Ashkelon
Ashkelon (Hebrew אשקלון) is a coastal city in Israel's Southern District, founded 1948, with about 171,000 residents. Ancient Philistine Pentapolis city; Canaanite gate of 1850 BCE, national park, Barzilai hospital.
Ayia Napa (Αγία Νάπα)
Ayia Napa (Αγία Νάπα) is a resort town in southeast Cyprus's Famagusta district, named after a medieval monastery ('napa' = wooded glen). Known for 16 Blue Flag beaches, Nissi Beach, nightlife, a 0.14 km² marina, and monk seal sea caves; 15.9% of Cyprus tourists stayed there in 2024.
Baalbek (بعلبك)
Baalbek (بعلبك), ancient Heliopolis, is a Lebanese Bekaa valley city whose Roman temple complex of Jupiter, Bacchus, Venus, and Mercury, with 800-ton megaliths, was inscribed by UNESCO in 1984 and placed under enhanced protection in 2024.
Baghdad (بغداد)
Baghdad (بغداد), capital of Iraq on the Tigris, founded 762 CE by Abbasid caliph al-Mansur as the Round City; Abbasid imperial capital until the Mongol conquest of 1258, later Mongol, Turkmen, and Ottoman rule, capital of Iraq since 1921, population about 8 million.
Basra (البصرة)
Basra (البصرة, al-Baṣra), southern Iraqi port city on the Shatt al-Arab, founded as an Arab garrison (miṣr) about 638 CE by ʿUtba b. Ghazwān; Abbasid intellectual center, later Ottoman and modern Iraq's main oil-export outlet.
Bayjī
Bayjī (Baiji, Beiji) is a city in Salah al-Din Governorate, Iraq, between Mosul and Tikrit, home to Iraq's largest oil refinery, seized by ISIL in 2014, retaken in 2015, and reopened in 2024.
Beersheba
Beersheba (Be'er Sheva', Bi'r al-Sab') is a desert city in southern Israel, founded by the Ottomans around 1900 as an administrative center for Negev Bedouin, captured by Britain in 1917, and now Israel's fourth metropolis with about 212,000 residents.
Beirut (بيروت)
Beirut (بيروت), capital of Lebanon: ancient Roman law school, civil war division by the Green Line, Solidere downtown reconstruction, 2020 port blast damages of $3.8–4.6 billion, and a projected 6.4% GDP contraction in 2026.
Beit Jala (بيت جالا)
Beit Jala (بيت جالا), a Palestinian city on a hill west of Bethlehem in the West Bank, about 2 km from the Church of the Nativity; Aramaic name meaning "carpet of grass," predominantly Christian, municipality since 1912, mayor Vladimir Kharoufeh.
Bethlehem (بيت لحم)
Bethlehem (بيت لحم), Palestinian city in the West Bank 10 km south of Jerusalem, birthplace of Jesus and site of the Church of the Nativity (UNESCO 2012); economy built on pilgrimage tourism, crafts, and olive-wood carving.
Bnei Brak
Bnei Brak (בני ברק), Haredi city in the Tel Aviv District, Israel; founded 1924 by Polish religious settlers, city since 1950; ~230,000 residents on 7.3 km2, over 31,000/km2, one of the world's densest cities and Israel's largest ultra-Orthodox municipality.
Damascus (دمشق)
Damascus (دمشق), also called Al-Sham, is the capital of Syria and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, and was the capital of the Umayyad caliphate.
Deir ez-Zor (دير الزور)
Deir ez-Zor (دير الزور), also Deir Ezzor or Deir al-Zour, is the capital of Syria's eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate on the Euphrates near the Iraqi border, an oil and wheat hub, heavily damaged in the Syrian civil war and besieged by ISIS until 2017.
Dhiban, Jordan
Dhiban (ذيبان), Jordanian town in Madaba Governorate, 70 km south of Amman; ancient Moabite capital Dibon, findspot of the 1868 Mesha Stele; modern town settled in the 1950s, about 15,000 residents.