Iraq is suffocating.
The country is again hit by a dust storm.
This phenomenon has greatly increased in recent months in this semi-desert country.
Baghdad International Airport closed for a few hours on Monday.
Since mid-April, Iraq has experienced no less than ten sand and dust storms in the space of a few weeks.
The authorities present Iraq as one of the five countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and desertification.
Monday morning, a thick white dust covered Baghdad and its surroundings.
Visibility did not exceed a few hundred meters.
Thousands of hospital visits
As a result, the Iraqi capital's airport suspended all flights early in the morning, before resuming operations "around 10:30 a.m." (9:30 a.m. Paris time), according to an airport source.
In Najaf, a Shiite holy city in central Iraq which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year, the airport also briefly suspended flights before reopening after a few hours, thanks to improved conditions.
Airports have already been forced to briefly suspend flights several times in recent weeks.
In May, sandstorms that hit Iraq killed one person while thousands of people had to be treated in hospital for respiratory problems.
The 300…Days of Dust
Iraq, which is entering a scorching summer with temperatures approaching 50 degrees, is expected to experience "272 days of dust" per year in the next two decades and in 2050, the threshold of 300 days will be reached, according to an official from the Ministry of the Environment.
At the beginning of June, Iraqi President Barham Saleh called for making the fight against climate change “a national priority for Iraq, because it is an existential threat for future generations”.
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New dust storm hits Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
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Iraq: A new sandstorm closes airports, schools and administrations
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Iraq
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Drought