Middle East questions

Judea is the ancient Hebrew and the modern-day name of the mountainous southern part of the region of Palestine. The name originates from the Hebrew name Yehudah, a son of the Jewish patriarch Jacob/Israel, and Yehudah's progeny forming the biblical Israelite tribe of Judah and later the associated Kingdom of Judah.

Iran is subdivided into thirty-one provinces (Persian: Ostān), each governed from a local center, usually the largest local city, which is called the capital of that province. The provincial authority is headed by a Governor-General, who is appointed by the Minister of the Interior subject to approval of the cabinet.

The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état , was the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favour of strengthening the monarchical rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on 19 August 1953, orchestrated by the United Kingdom (under the name "Operation Boot") and the United States (under the name TPAJAX Project or "Operation Ajax") and the first United States covert action to overthrow a foreign government during peacetime.

The Dead Cities are a group of 700 abandoned settlements in northwest Syria between Aleppo and Idlib. Around 40 villages grouped in eight archaeological parks situated in north-western Syria provide an insight into rural life in Late Antiquity and during the Byzantine period. The majority of the dead cities are well-preserved, and tourists can access the sites quite freely

Melek Taus is one of the central figures of Yazidi religion. In Yazidi creation stories, God created the world and entrusted it to the care of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr ('the Seven Mysteries'), preeminent of which is Tawûsê Melek, the Peacock Angel.

Nineveh was one of the oldest and greatest cities in antiquity. Ninus (Greek: Νίνος), according to Greek historians writing in the Hellenistic period, was accepted as the eponymous founder of Nineveh ancient capital of Assyria. His name is not attested on the Assyrian

The official language of Iran is Persian.

The Alexandrian Crusade was led by Peter I of Cyprus against Alexandria in Egypt. Unlike the more prominent Crusades, it seems to have been motivated largely by economic interests. Peter wanted to end the primacy of Alexandria as a port in the Eastern Mediterranean in the hope that Famagusta would then benefit from the redirected trade. Religious concerns, then, were secondary.

Eight countries have access to the Persian Gulf: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The hamsa is a palm-shaped amulet, also known as the Hand of Fatima after the daughter of the prophet Muhammad, popular throughout the Middle East. Depicting the open right hand, it is an image recognized and used as a sign of protection.