NAJAF: A sandstorm in central and southern Iraq sent more than 1,800 people to hospitals with respiratory problems on Monday, health officials said.
Authorities temporarily shut the airports in the southern provinces of Najaf and Basra as the sandstorm — the biggest this year — obscured visibility in an eery orange cloud.
Iraq, which endures blistering summer heat and regular sandstorms, is one of the five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change, says the United Nations.
Hospitals in Muthanna province in southern Iraq received at least “700 cases of suffocation,” local health official Mazen Al-Egeili said.
More than 250 people were hospitalized in Najaf province, according to its health directorate.
An AFP photographer in Najaf saw police officers and pedestrians wearing face masks to shield themselves from the suffocating cloud of dust that hung heavily in the air.
Inside a nearby ambulance, a paramedic assisted a young man who was gasping for air.
At least 322 patients including children flocked to hospitals in Diwaniyah province, said Amer Al-Kinani, the provincial health department’s media officer.
In Dhi Qar and Basra provinces more than 530 people had breathing problems, local health officials said.
The sandstorm drastically reduced visibility to less than one kilometer (0.62 mile) but it is expected to gradually dissipate by Tuesday morning, weather services said.
In 2022, one person died and more than 5,000 were treated in hospitals for respiratory ailments due to a heavy sandstorm in Iraq.
The environment ministry has warned the country can expect to experience a rising number of “dust days” in coming decades.
Iraq sandstorm leaves 1,800 people with respiratory problems
https://arab.news/vsvzc
Iraq sandstorm leaves 1,800 people with respiratory problems
- Authorities temporarily shut the airports in the southern provinces of Najaf and Basra
Israel issues over 3,000 tenders for E1 settlement in Jerusalem
- The settlement would divide the occupied West Bank, hindering the establishment of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state
LONDON: Israeli authorities have issued tenders for the construction of 3,401 settlement units in the area known as E1, east of Jerusalem.
Muayyad Shaban, head of the Commission against the Wall and Settlements, said Israeli authorities had transitioned from planning and approval to implementation of the E1 plan.
The settlement, if developed, would divide the occupied West Bank, hindering the establishment of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
After nearly 30 years of delay under intense international opposition to the plan, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved plans for 3,400 homes in E1 last August.
Shaban said E1 constituted “a highly dangerous escalation in the repercussions of the accelerated assault on Palestinian lands through colonial settlement plans.”
The plan would separate Jerusalem from surrounding Palestinian areas and connect the Maale Adumim settlement to the city, undermining the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state, he added.
In 2025, Israeli authorities issued plans for 10,098 new settlement units, marking an unprecedented increase in settlement tenders.
Over 7,000 units were allocated to Maale Adumim, along with 900 units for Efrat in Bethlehem and 700 for Ariel in Salfit, reflecting a push to deepen colonial control over Palestinian land, the Commission against the Wall and Settlements reported.
