BAGHDAD —
Iraq temporarily closed Baghdad airport Monday as choking clouds of dust blanketed
the capital, the latest crippling sandstorm in a country that has warned
climate change poses an "existential threat".
اضافة اعلان
It was the tenth such storm since mid-April
to hit Iraq, which has been battered by intense droughts, soil degradation,
high temperatures and low rainfall linked to climate change.
Earlier this month, to mark
World Environment Day, President Barham Saleh warned that tackling climate change
"must become a national priority for Iraq as it is an existential threat
to the future of our generations to come".
The sun eventually reappeared on Monday
afternoon, after thick white dust had covered Baghdad and surrounding areas
through the morning, with visibility slashed to a few hundred meters.
Officials at
Baghdad airport announced the
temporary suspension of flights, before they were restarted at around 10:30am
(0730 GMT).
In Najaf, a Shiite holy city in central
Iraq, the airport briefly suspended operations in the morning before reopening
a few hours later when the dust passed.
Airports have been forced to suspend flights
several times due to sandstorms in recent weeks.
In May, sandstorms sent thousands of people
to hospital with respiratory problems, and left one person dead.
Iraq, which is entering the scorching summer
season when temperatures at times surpass 50 degrees Celsius, is ranked by the
UN as one of the world's five most vulnerable nations to climate change and
desertification.
The environment ministry has warned that
over the next two decades Iraq could endure an average of 272 days of
sandstorms per year, rising to above 300 by 2050.
The
World Bank warned in November that Iraq
could suffer a 20 percent drop in water resources by 2050 due to climate
change.
Water shortages have been exacerbated by the
building of upstream dams in neighboring Türkiye and Iran.
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