I believe the authors use the term Near East to describe the parts of present-day Turkey, Syria and nearby regions.

Middle-East is too broad to have usefulness in the article.

Yeah, I was surprised to learn that Middle East includes both Turkey and Pakistan. A good chunk of Earth.

Though the geographical region is slightly different, in general if it was prior to the 600AD it is referred to as the Near East, after 600AD (the start of the Muslim or Modern era in the region) it is referred to as the Middle East.