Are there any cactus' in the dessert in the middle east?

I thought this was an interesting question, so I did a little research. Apparently, the plant family Cactaceae is native to the Americas, and there is only one species that is found in the Old World, and it's apparently found in tropical regions there, so it wouldn't be in the desert. Anyway, DNA studies have shown that the cactus is a member of a group called Caryophyllales, members of which occur on many parts of what was once Gondwand (an ancient landm that split off from Pangaea). And scientists believe that cactus' evolved into their modern form in South America, and that they spread to North America when the two continents came together as part of the Great American Exchange, which was an exchange of plant and animal species (NOT the exchange you learned about in history cl, which happened many millions of years later). Sooo there are definitely plants in the Middle East that have evolved to be highly adapted to their desert climate; they just aren't cactus'.