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Middle East/Environment

 2 min read

Environment
A Taliban fighter stands guard after a gathering at the former presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 13, 2022.

Taliban mark turbulent first year in power

Hardline Islamists captured Kabul one year ago, ending 20 years of US-led military intervention

 3 min read

Environment
A child crouches over cracked earth at the Massira dam in Ouled Essi Masseoud village, Morocco, on August 8, 2022, amid the country's worst drought in at least four decades.

Drought tightens its grip on Morocco

'To see villagers rush to public fountains in the morning or to a neighbor to get water makes you want to cry'

 3 min read

Environment
A Palestinian boy sprays a friend with water from a pipe, on a very hot day in the town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2021.

Gazans reel under heat, lengthy power cuts

'The fan is broken, the battery is not working, we are fanning ourselves with trays'

 2 min read

Environment
Members of a rescue team working at the site of a flash flood in the Emamzadeh Davoud, the northwestern part of Tehran, Iran, on July 28 2022.

Floods in Iran leave at least 53 dead, rescuers hunt for the missing

The deaths come a week after 22 people died in flash floods in the southern Fars province

 3 min read

Environment
Fishermen navigate on the Shatt al-Arab waterway during a sandstorm in Basra, Iraq, on May 23, 2022

Middle East facing dire effects of climate change

Sandstorms in Iraq, receding farmland in Egypt, and severe drought in Afghanistan

 4 min read

Environment
Tourists spend time at the beach in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada on February 18, 2018

Egypt: two women killed by a shark in the Red Sea

'Any activity is prohibited for three days' on the beaches in the south of Hurghada

 2 min read

Environment
An Iraqi man receives a dose of cholera vaccine at the Jamiyah district in Baghdad, Iraq on November 1, 2015.

Iraq confirms 13 cholera cases, scores suspected

'Around 4,000 cases of diarrhea and vomiting have been recorded in Sulaimaniyah hospitals'

 3 min read

Environment
Palestinians gather on a beach in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, on June 10, 2022.

Gaza: Beach-goers enjoy clean seawater for first time in years

'We couldn’t come before because the sea was polluted. If we did, my children would come home with viruses'

 3 min read

Environment
This file handout satellite image obtained courtesy of Maxar Technologies on July 19, 2020 shows a closeup view of the FSO Safer oil tanker on June 19, 2020 off the Yemeni port of Ras Isa.

Saudi Arabia offers $10m to help prevent Yemeni oil tanker spill in Red Sea

The tanker contains four times the amount of oil spilled in 1989 Exxon disaster

 3 min read

Environment
A firefighting helicopter drops water on the Batramaz forest fire in Lebanon's northern district of Minie-Danniye, on June 8, 2022.

Lebanon pine forest blaze begins wildfire season

Lebanon is grappling with its worst-ever financial crisis and lacks the tools to combat catastrophic wildfires

 3 min read

Environment
A street vendor during a sandstorm in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 16, 2022.

Dust storms bring ‘more destruction’ to Middle East

Northern Iraq is particularly exposed, witnessing a sandstorm nearly every week since March

 3 min read

Environment
Significantly lower water levels are seen on the Tigris River, in Baghdad, Iraq, May 28, 2022.

3,400-year-old city emerges from Tigris River amid drought

Over 100 ancient clay tablets found at mud-brick walled settlement dating to Bronze Age

 3 min read

Environment
Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, at the International Media Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 20, 2020.

Saudi Arabia names senior diplomat as 1st climate envoy

Saudi Arabia plans to ramp up oil production while working towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2060

 2 min read

Environment
A man walks on a deserted road during a spring sandstorm in Iraq's capital city Baghdad on May 5, 2022.

Iraq closes airports, public buildings due to heavy sandstorms

A giant dust cloud leaves Baghdad’s streets deserted

 4 min read

Environment
A woman walks past a tree on a narrow pavement that replaced a huge garden in Cairo, Egypt, February 14, 2022.

Egypt to issue new climate targets ahead of UN summit

'It is helpful for (Egypt) to get the ball rolling and set an important marker for what countries need to do'

 3 min read

Environment
This file handout satellite image obtained courtesy of Maxar Technologies on July 19, 2020 shows an overview of the FSO Safer oil tanker on June 19, 2020 off the Yemeni port of Ras Isa.

Donors pledge $33m to stop 'catastrophic' Yemen oil spill

'We need to work quickly to get the remaining funds to start the four-month operation'

 2 min read

Environment
A woman and a boy walk on the dried up riverbed of the Zayandeh Roud river that no longer runs under the 400-year-old Si-o-seh Pol bridge, named for its 33 arches, in Isfahan, Iran, July 10, 2018.

Iran slams Turkey's upstream dam-building activity

'Turkey's construction of dams on the border waters is unacceptable and we oppose it'

 3 min read

Environment
This file handout satellite image obtained courtesy of Maxar Technologies on July 19, 2020 shows a closeup view of the FSO Safer oil tanker on June 19, 2020 off the Yemeni port of Ras Isa.

UN: 'Imminent' Yemen oil spill would cost $20b to clean up

'The impact of a spill will be catastrophic,' Gressly warns

 3 min read

Environment
A man walks on a deserted road during a spring sandstorm in Iraq's capital city Baghdad on May 5, 2022.

Iraq sandstorm sends over 1,000 to hospital

Iraq, with its low rainfall and high temperatures, is particularly vulnerable to climate change

 2 min read

Environment
A man on a wheelchair makes his way through flood waters after heavy rains at the old section of Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 24, 2022.

Afghanistan: At least 18 dead, over 100 homes destroyed in floods

Latest deluges hit the provinces of Faryab and Parwan, as well as various other regions

 3 min read

Environment
An underwater view of Posidonia oceanica seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea, on June 24, 2015.

'Lungs of the Mediterranean' at risk

'Posidonia oceanica... is one of the most important sources of oxygen provided to coastal waters'

 4 min read

Environment
A pond remains at the dried-up Sawa Lake in Iraq's southern Muthana province, on April 19, 2022.

Overuse and climate change kill off Iraq's Sawa Lake

Sawa Lake, once a biodiverse wetland popular with Iraqi families, is now a barren wasteland with piles of salt

 3 min read

Environment
A 10-week old Persian leopard cub is presented to the public for the first time by staff at the Budapest Zoo in Budapest, Hungary, on November 18, 2021.

Iraq: Conservationists fight to save endangered leopards

Ahmed says 'We have to save them, they are part of our culture and identity'

 3 min read

Environment
A local farmer speaks in a palm and olive grove in the "green belt" area of Iraq's central city of Karbala, on March 21, 2022.

Iraq: 'Green belt' project neglected as climate fight falters

al-Khazali blames 'lack of interest from the central government and local authorities'