MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia and is a way to refer to the geography instead of the political term.
Armenians in the Middle East are mostly concentrated in Iran, Lebanon, Cyprus, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem, although well-established communities exist in Iraq, Egypt, Turkey and other countries of the area including, of course, Armenia itself. They tend to speak the western dialect of the Armenian language and the majority are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, with smaller Catholic and Protestant minorities. There is a sizable Armenian population in the thousands in Israel. There is also the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem with a history that goes back 2,000 years.
Noctua orbona, the lunar yellow underwing, is a moth of the family Noctuoidea. It is found in the Palearctic.
Bryophila is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae. The genus was described by Treitschke in 1825.
Lasiocampa is a genus of moths in the family Lasiocampidae. The genus was described by Franz von Paula Schrank in 1802.
Rethera komarovi, the madder hawkmoth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Otto Vasilievich Bremer and William Grey in 1853. It is found in south-western Europe, Asia Minor, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Iran and Iraq.
Merrifieldia malacodactylus is a moth of the family Pterophoridae. It is known from Central Asia, Yemen, Mediterranean Europe, Tunisia, Morocco, Anatolia, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Russia.
Ancylosis harmoniella is a species of snout moth in the genus Ancylosis. It was described by Émile Louis Ragonot, in 1887 from Spain, Malta, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Transcaucasia.
Isauria dilucidella is a species of moth in the family Pyralidae. It was described by Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel in 1836. It is found in most of Europe, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, as well as Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan.
Pediasia matricella is a species of moth in the family Crambidae described by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1832. It is found in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Ukraine, Russia. In the east, the range extends to Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, Turkmenistan, Jordan, Syria, Iran and Israel.
Agriphila tersellus is a species of moth in the family Crambidae. The species was described by Julius Lederer in 1855. It is found in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Asia Minor, Turkmenistan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Transcaucasia.
Ancylolomia pectinatellus is a species of moth in the family Crambidae. It is found in Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Iran.
Chrysocrambus linetella is a species of moth in the family Crambidae.
Metacrambus carectellus is a species of moth in the family Crambidae. It is found in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, Ukraine, Russia, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Uzbekistan.
The term Axis of Resistance refers to an anti-Western, anti-Israeli and anti-Saudi political and informal military alliance between Iran, Palestine, the Syrian Government and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Pro-Syrian government militias, Iraqi Shia militias that are part of the Iraqi Government-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Forces and the Yemeni Houthi movement are also considered part of the alliance.
Cochylimorpha diana is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in Asia Minor, Syria, the Palestinian Territories, Armenia, Lebanon and Iran.
The spillover of the Syrian Civil War is the impact of the Syrian Civil War in the Arab world and beyond. Since the first protests during the Arab Spring, the increasingly violent Syrian Civil War has been both a proxy war for the major Middle Eastern powers, Turkey and Iran, and a potential launching point for a wider regional war. Fears of the latter were realized when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a Salafi Jihadist militant group and alleged former al-Qaeda affiliate, established itself in Syria in 2013, and later combined with the War in Iraq (2013–2017) into a single conflict the following year. The spillover of the Syrian Civil War is often dubbed the Arab Winter.
Ancylolomia westwoodi, the Westwood's grass-moth, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Zeller in 1863. It is found in Afghanistan, Iran, western Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Java, Bali, Malaysia, Sumatra and Australia, where it has been recorded from the Northern Territory and Queensland. It is externally indistinguishable from Ancylolomia indica, but generally darker. A.w.bitubirosella is one of the most common Crambinae in India.
The Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, sometimes also referred to as the Middle Eastern Cold War, is the ongoing struggle for influence in the Middle East and other Muslim regions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The two countries have provided varying degrees of support to opposing sides in nearby conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen; and disputes in Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar, and Iraq. It also extends to disputes or broader competition in other regions such as Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other parts of North and East Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and the Caucasus.
