Anbar -

The land of Iraq is rich in many natural resources, including tar and other important resources, which can generate millions of dollars for the state if optimally invested.

"Heet" in Anbar Governorate, western Iraq, is one of the important districts that contain natural Qir springs. Rather, it is considered the most among the cities and other districts at the governorate and country level, where the quantities, sizes and diameters of these springs vary.

According to the testimonies of the people in the district of Hit - to Al Jazeera Net - these eyes are natural without human or machine intervention, and they are sold by the owner of the land for many uses, including for painting the roofs of homes and residential and commercial buildings to prevent moisture from seeping into the interior, in addition to washing them for owners of skin diseases, and they pointed out The tar was used in the manufacture of the bucket in which water was drunk, as well as the batiyeh, which is a vessel used when kneading flour and preparing it for bread.

Al-Faraji: The eyes of the Qir were found 5 thousand years BC (Al-Jazeera)

History of the eyes

According to petroleum engineer Ahmed Al-Faraji, "these springs were found before 5,000 BC, when the founder of the Akkadian Empire, Sargon of Akkad, visited them when he settled in Anbar at the dawn of the dynastic era and called it the crater of fire."

He told Al Jazeera Net, "The civilizations that were built in Mesopotamia have withstood long periods and have prevented their erosion until today because of their use of tar from the springs of Hit and other northern and southern cities, and they preserved the strength of buildings such as the ruins of Babylon, the Ziggurat of Ur, the archaeological castle of Hit and the stone supports of the waterwheels built on the Euphrates River in the western districts. From Anbar Governorate, which irrigates the agricultural shoulders of the Euphrates.

#Heat, photographed by Mrs. Gertrude Bell, 1909.


(In the pictures, the eyes of the (tar) that was extracted from this city appear #from_clay_all_all pic.twitter.com/u1IO24JKEm

— The Iraqi National Museum (@iraqmuseum881) September 7, 2016

As for the areas of those springs, according to Al-Faraji, they do not exceed 15 meters in width and 10 meters in length, and their depth is not specified, as there is a famous incident that the people of Hit have been circulating so far, which is the fall of a bulldozer with its driver into one of the eyes of the dam, which caused the death of the driver and the loss of the bulldozer.

Hamza identifies the negative effects of the raindrops on the environment, water and humans (Al-Jazeera)

Ayoun Al-Qayr

According to the Geological Survey of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, there are 8 Qir springs, 5 of which are in the district of Hit: Ain Al-Taif (525 tons annually), Ain Al-Marj (550 tons), Ain Al-Mamoura (2250 tons), Ain Al-Siyali (450 tons) and Ain Al-Aatat (2550 tons). ) and 3 others in the city of Ramadi, Anbar Governorate, in the west of the country: Ain al-Jabaha (500 tons), Ain Abu Jir (525 tons), and insulators (430 tons).

And environmental and water strategies expert Ramadan Hamza identifies the negative effects resulting from these rain-fed springs, and told Al Jazeera Net that they begin to evaporate during the summer due to high temperatures, which generates foul and toxic emissions for residents and farmers near them.

"The decrease in the waters of the Euphrates River contributes to an increase in pollution due to the seepages of tarry springs from oil residues and geological faults towards the main and secondary rivers," he added.

In turn, Ahmed Abdel-Razzaq, 39, a resident of Heet district, suffers from gases that evaporate from the springs of al-Qir near his home, which corrode refrigeration, air conditioning and other electrical appliances, appealing to government agencies to find a quick solution to these problems.

Saleh confirms the use of Oyoun Al-Qir to provide job opportunities for the unemployed (Al-Jazeera)

Economic and medical benefit

In parallel, economic researcher Mustafa Saleh said, "Oyoun al-Qir is an investment landmark of the city of Hit, and it can be used medically and industrially, and it can be invested to generate money and provide job opportunities for the unemployed."

Saleh called - via Al Jazeera Net - the relevant official authorities to take advantage of these natural tar springs by establishing asphalt plants and paints, and stated that "there is another economic feasibility after investing the tar springs after achieving local sufficiency by exporting the surplus from them abroad because they are inexhaustible springs. ".

Mohi reveals the medical benefits of bitumen, including treating skin peeling and fungi (Al-Jazeera)

For his part, the biological expert, Dr. Haider Moataz Mohie, reveals the medical benefits of tar, and says that it treats headache pain, relieves ringing in the ears, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, skin peeling, dandruff, and skin scaling known as eczema, fungal diseases and joint pain.

During his conversation with Al-Jazeera Net, he attributed the medical benefits of tar, as it contains a group of organic liquids, and sulfur and copper are included in its composition, in addition to heavy elements such as lead and mercury.

The researcher concludes by saying, "Bitrous oil is oily water derived from the underdevelopment of sedimentary rocks after light hydrocarbons have evaporated from crude oil," noting that environmental factors (soil, climate, water) made the area agricultural par excellence, producing abundant crops and necessary to sustain the life of its inhabitants, in addition to the Availability of materials used in various food industries such as molasses (date honey), rashi (tahini) and vinegar.