Baghdad Airport Resumes Flights After Suspension Due to Bad Weather

A man rides a bicycle along the Sinek bridge spanning the Tigris river in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm on April 20, 2022 AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP
A man rides a bicycle along the Sinek bridge spanning the Tigris river in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm on April 20, 2022 AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP
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Baghdad Airport Resumes Flights After Suspension Due to Bad Weather

A man rides a bicycle along the Sinek bridge spanning the Tigris river in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm on April 20, 2022 AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP
A man rides a bicycle along the Sinek bridge spanning the Tigris river in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm on April 20, 2022 AHMAD AL-RUBAYE AFP

Baghdad international airport resumed flights on Wednesday after suspending operations earlier in the day due to bad weather, the state news agency INA cited Iraq's Civil Aviation authority as saying.

Iraq was hit by the third heavy dust storm in two weeks, temporarily grounding flights as the weather phenomenon grows increasingly frequent.

The air in Baghdad was thick with a heavy sheet of grey and orange dust.

The airport serving the city of Najaf to the south also released a statement announcing flights were grounded on Wednesday.

Two dust storms struck the country earlier in April, leaving dozens hospitalized with respiratory problems and temporarily grounding flights at a number of airports.

"The dust is affecting the whole country but particularly central and southern regions," Amer al-Jabri, an official at Iraq's meteorological office, told AFP.

"Iraq is facing climatic upheaval and is suffering from a lack of rain, desertification and the absence of green belts" around cities, he said.

Iraq is particularly vulnerable to climate change, having already witnessed record low rainfall and high temperatures in recent years.

Experts have said these factors threaten social and economic disaster in the war-scarred country.

In November, the World Bank warned that Iraq could suffer a 20-percent drop in water resources by 2050 due to climate change.

In early April, environment ministry official Issa al-Fayad had warned that Iraq could face "272 days of dust" a year in coming decades, according to the state news agency INA.

The ministry said the weather phenomenon could be confronted by "increasing vegetation cover and creating forests that act as windbreaks".



US Ambassador to Lebanon 'Very Happy' over Aoun's Election as President

People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
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US Ambassador to Lebanon 'Very Happy' over Aoun's Election as President

People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights
People carry national flags as they hold a moment of silence marking the one-year anniversary of Beirut's port blast, near the site of the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emilie Madi Purchase Licensing Rights

US ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson said she was "very happy" over Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun's election as president on Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacuum in the post.

Johnson and other foreign envoys had attended Thursday's session at the Lebanese parliament in which Aoun was elected.

For its part, France's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday said the election of a new Lebanese president turns a new page for the country and must now be followed by the appointment of a new government capable of carrying out reforms.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said that a new government will have carry out reforms necessary for Lebanon's economic recovery, stability, security and sovereignty, and added that France calls on all Lebanese political leaders and authorities to work towards those goals.