The Syrian desert, also known as the North Arabian desert, the Jordanian steppe, the Syrian steppe, or the Badiya, or Badiyat al-Sham, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about 500,000 square kilometers of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Jordan, southern Syria, and western Iraq. It accounts for about 85% of the land area of Jordan and 55% of Syria. To the south, it borders and merges into the Arabian Desert. The land is open, rocky or gravelly desert pavement, cut with occasional wadis, or river valleys, generally dry riverbeds.