Halfaya Pass (Arabic: مَمَرّ حَلْفَيَا = Mamarr Ħalfayā) (English colloquial: Hellfire Pass) is located in Egypt, near the border with Libya. A 600-foot (180 m) high escarpment extends south eastwards from the Egyptian-Libyan border at the coast at as-Salum (or Saloum, Solum, Sollum), with the scarp slope facing into Egypt. Halfaya Pass is about two miles (3 km) inland from the Mediterranean and provides a natural route through.
The escarpment is known as Akabah el-Kebir عقبة الكبير (`aqabat al-kabīr) "great ascent". To El-Edrisi it was known as عقبة السلوم (`aqabat as-salūm) "graded ascent", whence the modern name of the gulf and the town of Salum. In antiquity it was known as Catabathamus Magnus. It was considered as marking the boundary between Africa and Asia in Hellenistic geography. It separated the provinces of Aegyptus and Marmarica.
Read more about Halfaya Pass: World War II
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