Mashriq المشرق | |
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Countries and territories |
The Mashriq (/məˈʃriːk/; Arabic: ْاَلْمَشْرِق, romanized: al-Mashriq, lit. 'the east'), also known as the Arab Mashriq (Arabic: اَلْمَشْرِقُ الْعَرَبِيُّ), sometimes spelled Mashreq or Mashrek, is a term used by Arabs to refer to the eastern part of the Arab world, as opposed to the Maghreb (western) region, and located in Western Asia and eastern North Africa.[5] It is the Arabic equivalent for the term Middle East.[6] Poetically the "Place of Sunrise", the name is derived from the verb sharaqa (َشَرَق, "to shine, illuminate, radiate" and "to rise"), from the sh-r-q root (ش-ر-ق), referring to the east, where the sun rises.[7][8]
The region includes the Arab-majority states of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the State of Palestine, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as Israel.[9][6]