The upper part of the body is colored by large dark rhomboid blotches sometimes forming a zig-zag pattern.

[9] The harmless coin-marked snake, which lives in the same areas as the Palestine viper, resembles it in length, coloration and defensive behavior, to the extent that people frequently get confused between them.

[10] It is found in northern and central Israel, Palestine, western Syria, northwestern Jordan, and Lebanon.

[11] Mallow et al. (2003) describe the range as relatively restricted, with the distribution being concentrated in the Mediterranean coastal plains to the inland hills of Lebanon and Israel, along with the adjoining regions of Syria and Jordan.

Before Franz Werner (1938), this snake was included in Montivipera xanthina, and subsequently synonymized with V. lebetina by Boulenger (1896).

[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] The venom includes at least four families of pharmacologically active compounds: (i) neurotoxins; (ii) hemorrhagins; (iii) angioneurin growth factors; and (iv) different types of integrin inhibitors.

[29] The code phrase “Nahash Tsefa” (Viper Snake) was broadcast on the radio and TV to instruct Israeli citizens to put on their gas masks during missile attacks from Iraq against Israel, in the first Gulf War in 1991.