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The Rub' al Khali (Arabic: الربع الخالي), which translates as Empty Quarter in English, and also known as the Great Sandy Desert, is one of the largest sand deserts in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including southern Saudi Arabia, and areas of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometers (250,000 square miles) (the area between long. 44°30'–56°30'E., and lat. 16'30'–23°00'N), more than the combined land areas of the Netherlands, Belgium and France.