Part I: Western Desert
Part II: Northwest Africa

This concluding installment of "Midnight at the Oasis" identifies point cities in Iraq, Syria, and Transjordan. The Near East will always remain a Europa sideshow, but adding point cities injects a little more flavor into the region. Some of the Syrian locations are identical to those specified in "Midnight at the Oasis, Part I" (TEM #13), but with their locations keyed to map 20. Table I below shows these locations.

Other Notes

During the Syrian campaign, the primary Vichy airfields were Beirut, Damascus, Aleppo, and Rayak. Add an airfield at Rayak (20:4306 or 19:4507). Also, a large airfield existed at Lydda, Palestine (20:5010 or 19:4414), left over from the British Palestine campaign of the late '30s. Add an airfield there.

During the abortive German intervention in the Iraqi rebellion, the miniscule Fliegerfuhrer Irak flew from bases at Mosul and Irbil. Irbil should possibly be a reference city to reflect this airstrip.

A Vichy landing ground at Deir es Zor was a target for RAF bombers during the invasion of Syria, but it may not be significant enough to warrant a Europa presence.

There was also a bridge over the Euphrates at Deir ez Zor (21:3821/21:3922), making it a minor objective during the Allied invasion of eastern Syria. If you can tolerate one more chrome rule, consider that hexside bridged, particularly if using the SE bridge rules.

Some of the more interesting listings are the pumping stations on the Iraqi pipeline. The article "The Iraq Petroleum Company: Pipelines through the Near Ease, in TEM #18 explains their special status.

Rivers

Most of the rivers of the Near East maps are part of the Tigris-Euphrates system. Table II defines these rivers.