The Veiled Raiders

Quite a lot of abuse in this one. Assorted bruises and cuts. Serious dehydration. Possible heat exhaustion and malnutrition.
I think some of the borders and even country names are different. Geosynchronous comm satellites are old hat now.

I'm not sure this is updatable. The science/engineering plot is not workable. We have lots of geosynchronous satellites but none of them use lasers because of atmospheric dispersion. The two Islamic leaders could just call each other on a cell phone or even have a video conference.

I don't think this book is reprintable because the representation of the local peoples is not respectful.
Maybe you could turn this into an archaeological adventure and the locals resented and imprisoned the team because they thought the team were disrespecting their ancestors, You could bring up some discussion of the ethics of archaeology in foreign lands.

For me, I have fond memories of this book because it taught me how to make and use a sling, something I have had fun with for a long time.