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Aqaba, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Aqaba, Gulf of, northeastern arm of the Red Sea, 118 mi (190 km) long and 10 to 15 mi (16.1 to 24.1 km) wide, between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas; a part of the Great Rift Valley. The gulf, which...

Faisal I

(Encyclopedia)Faisal I or Faysal I both: fīˈsəl [key], 1885–1933, king of Iraq (1921–33). The third son of Husayn ibn Ali, sherif of Mecca, he is also called Faisal ibn Husayn. Faisal was educated in Constan...

Soleimani, Qasem

(Encyclopedia)Soleimani, Qasem, or Qassem Suleimani käˈsəm Sōləmänˈē [key], 1957–2020, Iranian general. He joined the Revolutionary Guards following the 1979 revolution and was considered a hero of the Ir...

Lloyd, Seton Howard Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Lloyd, Seton Howard Frederick, 1902–96, English archaeologist. Trained originally as an architect, he gained his first archaeological experience in 1928 as a member of the Egypt Exploration Society'...

Barzani, Masoud

(Encyclopedia)Barzani, Masoud, 1946–, Kurdish political leader, b. Mahabad, Iran. The son of Mustafa Barzani, founder of the Kurdistan Democratic party (KDP), he joined the Kurdish forces fighting for autonomy fr...

Ar Ramadi

(Encyclopedia)Ar Ramadi är rämäˈdē [key], town, provincial capital, central Iraq, on the Euphrates River. It is the eastern terminus of a highway across the desert from the Mediterranean Sea. The town was foun...

Mallowan, Max Edgar Lucien

(Encyclopedia)Mallowan, Sir Max Edgar Lucien, 1904–78, British archaeologist, educated at Oxford. He participated in the British Museum–Univ. of Pennsylvania excavations at Ur (1925–30) and Nineveh (1931–32...

An Najaf

(Encyclopedia)An Najaf än näˈjäf [key], city (2020 pop. 874,000), S central Iraq, on a lake near the Euphrates River. The city, one of Shi'a Islam's holiest, is also called Mashad A...

Sadr, Moktada al-

(Encyclopedia)Sadr, Moktada or Moqtada al- mo͝okhˈtädä ä-säˈdər [key], 1973?–, Iraqi Shiite cleric. The son of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was assassinated in 1999 (presumably by Saddam Hu...

Bremer, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bremer, Paul (Lewis Paul Bremer 3d) brĕˈmər [key], 1941–, U.S. diplomat and government official, b. Hartford, Conn. A career diplomat in the Foreign Service from 1966 to 1989, he was ambassador t...