Making Tracks on the Blueff in TEM #15 presented a network of tracks for Egypt and Libya in Western Desert. The track layout below extends this network into the Sinai, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, and shows connections into southern Turkey and eastern Iran.

The 1941 Syrian and Iraqi transportation systems were more developed than those in Libya. Trade routes had crossed the area for millenia. Ottoman rule, and later the French mandate in Syria and British protectorate in Iraq fostered the beginnings of modern railways and roads.

The development of the oil fields at Kirkuk in the '20s and '30s further promoted transportation improvements- the Iraq Petroleum Company pipelines to Haifa and Tripoli being the most notable. In addition to the track network in the table below, consider the I.P.C. pipelines to have all the benefits of tracks. See "The Iraq Petroleum Company" in TEM #18 for these pipeline paths.

Due to the considerable overlap of maps 19, 20, 21 and 22, many of the tracks below appear on two maps. In this case, only their paths on map 19 or 21 are given; it is much easier to copy from these maps onto 20 and 22 than to repeat the specific hex paths.

The track ending in hex 19:4529 is the road to St. Catherine's Monastery, at the base of Mt. Sinai. The route along the coast of the Sinai peninsula makes several loops into the interior.

It is likely that a road or track existed down the western coast of the Red Sea, however, none of my 1940's sources show it. It only appears in later maps, and so is not included. The same can be said for several routes just south of Baghdad, between the Tigris and Euphrates.

Draw your tracks in pencil as some of these routes could turn out to be desert mirages.

Map 19

3522-3622-3623-3824-38264027-4028-4229-4230-43304430-4431-4632-4732-48324829-4729-4727-4626-46254725 3825-4223-4221-4321-4320
El Arish-4120
El Arish-4219
4121-4221
4321-4522-4523-4623-46244725
4124-4224-4324-4424-4623
4129-4228-4329
4229-4329-4429-4529
4308-4407
4309-4409-4411
4311-4411
Tel Aviv-4413-4514
4317-4417
4412-4413
4418-4519-4618-4719-47224822-4824
4510-4711
4804-5103-5102
4711-4810-5112
4811-4912-5011
4825-5124-5121
4727-4827
From hex 4403 north, through every coastal hex to Lattaquie, on Map 20.

Map 21
2829-2828-2928-3028
2929-3128-3329
Urfa-3126-3225-3326-3425
3120-3219-3218-3417-34153614
Alep-3828-3827-4026-4127
3605-3404-3402-3101 -Rezaiyeh
4026-4023-3923-3922-3821 3819-3618-3613-3513-3510
Mosul-3408-3209-3210-29122913-3013-3015
Palmyre-4229-4428-4425-Rutbah
4431-4430-4629-4628-4728-4724
4606-4908
4805-4807
Kirkuk-3901-Sulaimaniya on Map 22
5020-5009-5109-5107Habbaniya
From 3526 to 5009 following the right (southwest) bank of the Euphrates river.

Map 22
3128-3327
3222-3219-3418-3416-3615-3716
Karbala-3726-4530-4629-4730-4829-5030-5130
Karbala-3429-3530-3533
4122-4123-4826-5025-5126
4514-4713-4813-4913-5114-Kuwait
4515-4816-4818-4919-4920-4820-4823
5025-5024-4622
4418-4419-4520-4521-4621-4624-4525