Arab Iraq

Arab Iraq (Arabic: عراق العرب, romanized: ‘Irāq ul-‘Arab, lit. 'Iraq of the Arabs') was a term used to refer to the Arab-populated region to the west of Persian Iraq. It included Lower Mesopotamia and some desert areas which are geographically connected to the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula without any natural borders.^[1][2] The name "Arab Iraq" (Persian: عراق عرب, romanized: Irâq-e Arab) was created during the Seljuk era in the 11th-12th centuries, to distinguish it from "Persian Iraq" (Persian: عراق عجم, romanized: Irâq-e Ajam).^[3] Persian Iraq and Arab Iraq were often referred to as "al-Iraqayn" (Arabic: العراقين) meaning "the two Iraqs" collectively.^[4] According to Ottoman documents Lugat-i Tarihiyye ve Cografiyye, written in 1894, and Kâmûs-ül Â'lâm, written in 1896, Arab Iraq was located to the southwest of Persian Iraq, east of the Levant, southeast of Al-Jazira, south of Kurdistan, and west of Khuzestan.^[5][6]

Map showing Arab Iraq, between the Levant and Persian Iraq