People were told to stay home and flights were disrupted in parts of the Middle East after the latest sandstorm swept through the region.
The storms have hospitalized thousands of people in the Middle East in recent weeks, with at least one dead in Iraq and three in Syria.
Almost back-to-back sandstorms have also covered parts of Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Experts and officials are blaming climate change and poor government regulations.
Sandstorms are driven by seasonal winds and typically occur in late spring and summer.
However, this year they have happened almost every week in Iraq since March.
From Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh to Iran’s capital Tehran, bright orange skies and a thick layer of curtain signal another stormy day in the Middle East on Monday.
Iraqi authorities have declared the day a national holiday, urging government employees and residents to stay at home in anticipation of the 10th storm that has hit the country in the past two months.
The Department of Health stocks oxygen canisters at facilities in hard-hit areas, according to a statement.
“This is a region-wide problem but each country has different levels of vulnerability and weakness,” said Jaafar Jotheri, an archaeologist at Al-Qadisiyah University in Baghdad.
The latest sandstorm to sweep across the Middle East hit Baghdad on Monday. Photo: AP
In Syria, medical departments were put on alert as a sandstorm hit Deir el-Zour province in the east bordering Iraq, Syrian state television said.
Earlier this month, a similar storm in the region left at least three people dead and hundreds hospitalized with respiratory problems.
Dr Bashar Shouaybi, head of the health ministry’s office in Deir el-Zour, told state television that hospitals were prepared and ambulances were on standby.
He said they have purchased an additional 850 oxygen tanks and medicines needed to deal with patients with asthma.
A storm turned the sky orange in Basra, Iraq, on May 16. Photo: AP
For the second time this month, Kuwait’s international airport suspended all flights on Monday because of the smog.
Video shows empty streets with poor visibility.
The Saudi Meteorological Association reports that visibility will drop to zero on roads in the capital Riyadh this week.
Officials warn drivers to slow down.
Iraq has suffered 10 sandstorms in two months. Photo: AP
Emergency rooms in the city have flooded this month with 1,285 patients complaining they can’t breathe.
Last week, Iran closed schools and government offices in the capital Tehran as a sandstorm swept through the country.
It is hardest hit in the southwestern desert region of the country of Khuzestan, where more than 800 people seek treatment for breathing difficulties.
Dozens of flights out of western Iran have been canceled or delayed.
People cover their faces during a sandstorm in Baghdad. Iraq, on May 16. Photo: AP
A prominent environmental expert told local media that climate change, drought and poor water management by the government are to blame for the increase in sandstorms.
Iran has drained its wetlands for agriculture – a common practice known to produce dust in the area.
Alireza Shariat, head of Iran’s association of engineers, told Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency last month that he expected widespread dust storms to become an “annual spring phenomenon”. ” in a way that Iran has never seen before.
In Iraq, desertification is exacerbated by record low rainfall, which is adding to the intensity of storms, Jotheri said. In a low-lying country with lots of desert, the impact is almost double, he said.
“Due to 17 years of water mismanagement and urbanization, Iraq has lost more than two-thirds of its green cover,” he added. “That’s why Iraqis complain more than their neighbors about sandstorms in their area.”
