978-1-4222-3442-6

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T HE L AND

level near the city of Ramadi on the Euphrates to sea level in the south along the Persian Gulf. Two large lakes dominate the landscape. One, Lake As-Saniyah, is just west of the Tigris and runs southwest from the town of Ali al-Gharbi for 75 miles (121 km). The second and more swampy lake, Al-Hammar, is farther south and extends from Basra to Suq ash-Shuyukh. The Shatt al Arab is located in the south of the alluvial plain. Two of its tributaries are the Karkheh and the Karun Rivers, which flow into the Shatt from Iran just above Iraq’s delta on the Persian Gulf. As a result of these rivers, the area near the Gulf is filled with small lakes and marshes that spread over the land- scape. The delta continues to grow as silt collects from the rivers. Continual dredging is necessary in order to keep the Shatt al Arab open for navigation to Basra. A second distinct region is the desert plateau, located in western and southwestern Iraq. This barren area makes up about one-third of the country. It is the least-developed part of Iraq, and few people live in the desert, which is an extension of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. The flatness of the land is broken by a number of wadis running east and west, some for hundreds of miles. The few remaining Bedouins of Iraq live in this vast, dry area. The western desert near Jordan rises to 100 feet (31 meters) and is called the Wadiyah. In the southern part of the desert plateau is a sandy, gravelly plain called Al-Diddibah, which borders the west- ern part of Kuwait. Its elevation ascends from about 300 feet (93 meters) near Kuwait to 3,000 feet (915 meters) where Saudi Arabia and Jordan intersect with Iraq to the west. On the northern edge of the desert plateau is a highway that runs from Baghdad to Amman, the capital of Jordan, and to Damascus, the capital of Syria. Along this highway is the busy trad- ing center of Rutbah, one of the very few towns on the plateau.