1) Who were in the Middle East when Mary, Joseph and Jesus were around?
A bunch of other people.
2) The Hebrews and Samaritans were in what is nowadays Israel
As were the Greeks and the Romans (lots of both).
3) but who was in the neighbouring Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq etc...?
Lebanese, Syrians, Greeks, Parthians (Persians), Romans, Nabateans (including part of Jordan), various Arab tribes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Romans_in_Arabia#/media/File:Roman_Empire_Trajan_117AD.png