Region that encompasses Western Asia and North Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East.
The Middle East, also referred to as the Near East or the Levant is a wide geographic area, roughly located between Northeastern Africa and Western Asia. As well as gcc (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) the area typically includes:
bahrain
cyprus
egypt
iran
iraq
iraqi-kurdistan
israel
jordan
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
kurdistan
kuwait
lebanon
northern-cyprus
oman
palestine
qatar
Syria
turkey
uae (United Arab Emirates)
west-bank
yemen
Some definitions also include the caucasus and Asian countries like pakistan and afghanistan.
