Geographical area of western Asia comprising the southern and northern sections of the Levant, bordered by the Sinai peninsula to the southwest, the Mediterranean to the west, Anatolia to the north, and the Arabian desert and Mesopotamia to the south and east. This eastern Mediterranean seaboard has parallel ranges of mountains and great river valleys and is part of the same geological fault as Great Rift Valley in Africa, leading from Red Sea up to Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley, and Sea of Galilee.