Semite in Basra disheartened and sent north (4)
I believe the answer is:
arab
'semite' is the definition.
(Arab is an example)
'basra disheartened and sent north' is the wordplay.
'disheartened' suggests removing the centre.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'sent' becomes 'ra' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'north' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up or 'northward').
'basra' with its middle removed is 'ba'.
'ba'+'ra'='bara'
'bara' backwards is 'ARAB'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for arab that I've seen before include "race" , "One from the Middle East, say" , "One from the Middle East or North Africa" , "Native of North Africa" , "Small, lively breed of horse" .)