Iraq is not in the Middle East.
Assyrian people , or Syriacs ( see names of Syriac Christians ) , are an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East . Iraq . Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain , the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range , and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert . The Syrian Desert ( بادية الشام , bādiyat ash-shām ) also known as the Hamad , is a combination of steppe and true desert covering 500000 km2 the Middle East , covering parts of south-eastern Syria , northeastern Jordan , northern Saudi Arabia , and western Iraq . Western Asia , West Asia , Southwestern Asia or Southwest Asia is the westernmost subregion of Asia .