Saudi arabia

• • • • • With an area of 2,150,000 sq. km, Saudi Arabia is the largest sovereign country of Arabia. It occupies nearly 80% of the area of the Saudi Arabia is, for the most part, an uninhabited desert land. As observed on the physical map above, two main desert regions dominate the landscape of the country. These are the Rub' Al Khali Desert, the larges mass of sand in the world, and the An-Nafud Desert - where sand dunes often exceed 100 ft. in height. The land (desert) rises into hills and mountains in the west and southwest, along the edges of the Red Sea. Mountain ranges include the Hejaz in the northwest, and the Azir in the southwest. Saudi Arabia's highest point is Jabal Sawda' which peaks at 10,279 ft. (3,133 m). It has been marked on the map by a yellow upright triangle. There are no perennial lakes or rivers but numerous wadis. The lowest point in the country is at 0 m or 0 ft in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Emirates of Saudi Arabia Map Saudi Arabia (officially, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) is divided into 13 administrative provinces or emirates. In alphabetical order, these provinces are: Al Baha, Al Jawf, Al Madinah, Aseer, Eastern province, Ha’il province, Jazan, Makkah, Najran, Northern Border province, Qassim, Riyadh and Tabuk. These provinces are divided into 118 governorates which are further subdivided into sub-governorates. Riyadh is the capital and largest city and is located in the center of an-Nafud desert, on the eastern region of the Najid Plateau. Wit...

WASHINGTON— Visits to Saudi Arabia by high-profile U.S. officials are always problematic. The two countries have a love-hate relationship. Politicians and the public criticize the Saudi kingdom’s human rights record and repression of women; its unwillingness to increase oil production; its coziness with Russia, China and, now, even with erstwhile enemy Iran. But the U.S. and Saudi Arabia also need each other — for trade and for broader security arrangements in the Middle East, including conflicts in Yemen and Sudan, where they work together to broker cease-fires or deliver humanitarian aid to devastated populations. And the Biden administration is fervently coaxing Riyadh to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, following similar Trump-era breakthrough gestures by a small number of other gulf or Muslim nations. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken wrapped up a four-day visit to the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Riyadh last week, which included a midnight meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Salman, the de facto ruler of the nation, is a ruthless dictator, a bold reformer or both, depending on whom you ask. The 37-year-old prince is largely considered responsible for the brutal killing and dismemberment of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. President Biden once called Salman a pariah and vowed to shun him, a pledge eventually reversed in a famous fist bump between the two last year. Executions of perceiv...