Today, Tuesday, for the second time in less than a week, a dust storm hit large areas in Iraq, and many were forced to resort to hospitals due to suffocation, and the storm led to the closure of Baghdad and Najaf international airports for a short period.

Visibility was very low this morning in most areas of the center of the country, including the capital, Baghdad, which was shrouded in orange light due to the low sandy cloud.

A large number of pedestrians wore medical masks to avoid the dust that covered buildings and cars with a yellow layer.

#Iraq : Suffocating dust storm again in #Baghdad - leading to cancellation of flights #Baghdad_Airport #Baghdad pic.twitter.com/oRxwsdwZAd

— sebastian usher (@sebusher) April 12, 2022

"Hospitals received cases of suffocation due to difficulty breathing, but most of them are minor cases," Ministry of Health spokesman Seif Al-Badr told AFP, noting that there were no statistics for the number of injured.

Also, this morning, the Baghdad and Najaf airports, which receive thousands of visitors from different countries of the world, were closed annually, and dozens of flights were cancelled.

After midday, the two airports reopened after improving visibility and reducing the impact of the sandstorm, which has become a frequent phenomenon in the country.

Dust covers the sky of the Iraqi capital (Reuters)

recurring phenomenon

Dust storms are frequent in Iraq, the semi-desert country, especially in the spring.

"The main cause of sandstorms is the lack of rain and the increase in desertification with the absence of a green belt" around cities, said Amer Al-Jabri, a spokesman for the Meteorological Department.

For his part, meteorologist Ali al-Moussawi confirmed the control of a second, medium-intensity dust wave over areas south of Mosul and near the border with Syria, expecting it to rush in the next few hours to affect the cities of Salah al-Din, Diyala and southern Kirkuk.

The dust prompted many to seek refuge in hospitals due to suffocation (Reuters)

As for the cities of the south, Al-Mousawi expected that "the dust wave will reach the southern regions during the hours of the evening and night today, and with less intensity than what affected the central cities."

He explained that "the dust wave today is classified as less severe than the dust wave that affected the country last Saturday."

A severe storm sweeps the capital #Baghdad, Salah al-Din, southern and central Nineveh, Diyala and Kirkuk, its source is the Syrian Badia and southern Nineveh,


resulting from the rush of a moderate air mass towards a warm mass, which generates heat differences that led to dust


, as well as thick and medium dust in the western regions of the country and the Middle Euphrates regions pic.twitter. com/Wj0ou1a20F

- Sadiq Attieh, weather forecaster (@sadeqatyia) April 12, 2022

The General Authority for Meteorology and Seismic Monitoring announced yesterday that the country will witness an escalation of dust during the next two days, as it will be affected by an air depression from the Arabian Peninsula.

Over the past week, most parts of Iraq were subjected to a sandstorm, to the extent that visibility became non-existent in some areas, with dozens of hospitals being registered to receive treatment for respiratory problems, according to an official source.

Iraq is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and desertification due to the increase in drought cases with high temperatures that reach for several days in the summer to more than 50 degrees Celsius.

Last November, the World Bank warned of a 20% decrease in Iraq's water resources by 2050 due to climate change.