Sentence:  In the <WSD>Middle</WSD> East , Iraq , Syria and Egypt were , a short while ago , in the Western camp . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the area around the eastern Mediterranean; from Turkey to northern Africa and eastward to Iran; the site of such ancient civilizations as Phoenicia and Babylon and Egypt and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity and Islam; had continuous economic and political turmoil in the 20th century