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Countries in West Asia

  • Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia is named after one family, the Al Saud. King Abdulaziz made the name official by decree in 1932.
  • KuwaitIn August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait without warning. Retreating soldiers set oil wells on fire.
  • CyprusIn March 2008, a wall that had cut across Ledra Street in the heart of Nicosia was demolished. The wall had stood for decades, and it had come to symbolise a division of the island that lasted 32 years. On the 3rd of April 2008, Ledra…
  • OmanIn 2010, the United Nations Development Programme named Oman the most improved country in the world over the preceding 40 years. That is a striking verdict for a nation on the southeastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, facing the Arabian…
  • JordanJordan holds the world's oldest known evidence of bread-making.
  • AbkhaziaAbkhazia has two governments claiming the same ground. Only five UN member states call it independent.
  • Georgia (country)In 2005, Georgia fired its entire traffic police force of around 30,000 officers.
  • South OssetiaOnly five United Nations members recognize South Ossetia as a country. Every other country calls it Georgian land.
  • BahrainBahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia, close to the western shore of the Persian Gulf. In 2024 its population stood at 1,588,670 people. Of these, 848,934 were expatriates, or 53.4 percent, and only…
  • SyriaIn December 2024, rebels took Damascus and ended the Assad family's 53-year rule of Syria.
  • QatarQatar is smaller than Connecticut but holds the world's third-largest natural gas reserves.
  • AzerbaijanAzerbaijan's name once belonged only to a region of northwestern Iran. Before 1918, no country used it.
  • United Arab EmiratesIn 2021, the United Arab Emirates sent a probe named Hope into Mars orbit. It was the first Arab country to reach Mars.
  • IraqIraq's land gave the world writing, the wheel and the sailboat.
  • LebanonLebanon takes its name from a Phoenician root, lbn, which means white. The word apparently describes the snow on its mountain peaks. The name is far older than the modern country. It turns up in Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of…
  • ArmeniaArmenia is a landlocked country in the Armenian highlands of West Asia, and its best-loved mountain stands outside its borders. Mount Ararat rises 5,137 meters, or 16,854 feet, making it the highest mountain in the region. It now lies in…
  • IsraelIsrael sits at one of the strangest addresses on the planet. Its eastern side drops to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the Earth. Its western coast meets the Mediterranean, and its southern tip touches the Red Sea. On land…
  • IranIranian students seized the US embassy in 1979 and held 52 hostages for 444 days.
  • EgyptAbout 99% of Egyptians live on roughly 5.5% of the country's land. The rest is desert and scattered oases.
  • TurkeyAlmost everyone in Turkey lives with some risk of earthquakes. Two major fault lines border the Anatolian plate.

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