Deserts

Much of the Middle East is hot and arid. The Sahara Desert stretches across norhern Africa and continues as the Arabian and Syrian Deserts in Asia and then becomes the South Iranian Desert further east. This is actually all one big desert and it stretches far beyond the Middle East up into the former Soviet Region as far east as China and Mongolia.

The Space Station astronauts have stated that this is the most striking feature of the earth from space. They state that this desert (where virtually no life exists) seems to go on and on and on as they fly over the earth. If you take a closer look at a world map, you will notice that this desert stretches almost halfway around the globe. Only part of it is in the Middle East.