Iraqi Experts Say Iran Bears Responsibility for Drought in Hawizeh Marsheshttps://english.aawsat.com/home/article/1367596/iraqi-experts-say-iran-bears-responsibility-drought-hawizeh-marshes
Iraqi Experts Say Iran Bears Responsibility for Drought in Hawizeh Marshes
Marshes in Iraq. (AFP)
It seems that geographic realities linking Iraq to Iran have caused inescapable problems that are compounding their turbulent political relations.
Issues between Baghdad and Tehran go beyond problems of borders and oil field demarcation, extending to water supplies. Iraq accuses Iran of cutting river water flowing from its territory and thus affecting Iraqi marshes and causing drought.
In contrast, Iranian authorities accuse Iraq of ignoring what is happening in the Hawizeh Marshes, which have been suffering from severe drought and fires.
The Hawizeh Marshes straddle the Iraq and Iran border. The marshes are fed by two branches of the Tigris River in Iraq and Karkheh River in Iran.
In response to Iranian accusations, Iraqi experts said that Iran is responsible for the drought that hit the marshes after it blocked the flow of its rivers. The drought later contributed to the break out of fires during blistering summers.
The marshes is a joint water plateau between the two countries with an estimated area of 1,350 km in Iraq and 1,250 km in Iraq, Hawizeh Marshes expert Jassem Al-Assadi told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Iranians objected to including Hawizeh Marshes in the 2016 World Heritage List,” Assadi added.
Iran wanted to include the part which lies within its territory, but it was refused because it was carrying out actions that harm the marshes’ environment.
Assadi went on to list Iran’s actions, which include cutting off all the water inflow into marshes by constructing three dams along the Karakh River.
More so, he stressed that there is no valid justification for current Iranian complaints, and that existing documents condemn Iranian actions, not Iraqis.
A senior Iranian official had threatened to take legal action against Iraq if evidence is found to prove that the fires that swept across the Hawizeh Marshes were deliberate.
According to the Ramsar Convention, signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1975, no country was allowed to build any dam that prevents water from reaching the wetland.
WHO: Congo is Running Short of Health Workers as Ebola Remains Out of Controlhttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5321753-who-congo-running-short-health-workers-ebola-remains-out-control
Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
WHO: Congo is Running Short of Health Workers as Ebola Remains Out of Control
Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
Congo is running short of health workers to staff treatment centers for history's fastest-growing Ebola outbreak, particularly in the eastern province of North Kivu where cases have surged 73% over three weeks, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
The warning came despite signs of improvement in other provinces, including Ituri, the outbreak’s epicenter. The outbreak has spread to seven provinces, with 7,773 confirmed cases and 3,759 deaths, according to the latest government figures.
Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 20, cases fell 26% in Ituri province and 15% in Haut-Uele, said Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO’s regional emergency director for Africa. But transmission patterns vary widely and the outbreak remains uncontrolled, she said.
“While cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others,” The Associated Press quoted Belizaire as saying. “The outbreak is still not under control and remains spread across a wide geographic area.”
The outbreak is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said it is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Catherine Smallwood, the WHO’s Ebola incident manager, said cases and deaths had begun declining in North Kivu after several weeks of increases. But although treatment beds are being added daily, facilities still lack enough staff and partners to operate them.
“The human resources gap is one of the biggest gaps,” Smallwood said.
WHO representative in Congo Anne Ancia said one Ebola treatment center requires about 300 health professionals, including anesthetists, hygienists, nurses and general practitioners.
“We are building Ebola treatment centers but do not always have the human resources needed to operate them,” Ancia said. “Those health workers must be paid.”
Frontline workers in Ituri previously went on strike over unpaid wages, worsening access to care.
Health Minister Roger Kamba said in July that the government was verifying payroll lists after the names of people not involved in the response were added. Frontline workers said officials promised to pay the arrears, but some workers received nothing and others only part of what they were owed.
Another major challenge in the response is the fatality rate among children, according to the WHO. Children under five have the highest case fatality rate, more than 60% compared with approximately 40% among adults, Belizaire said.
WHO Ebola Incident Manager Smallwood said detecting cases among children under five is also very difficult because the children can’t necessarily explain their symptoms, and the presentation of symptoms can be confusing.
Pakistani Officials Say Afghan Taliban Shelled Pakistani Border. Kabul Denies the Attackhttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5321638-pakistani-officials-say-afghan-taliban-shelled-pakistani-border-kabul-denies-attack
Pakistani Officials Say Afghan Taliban Shelled Pakistani Border. Kabul Denies the Attack
Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters
Afghanistan's Taliban forces shelled Pakistani border posts overnight after Pakistani troops foiled what they described as a cross-border infiltration attempt by militants, local Pakistani officials said Wednesday.
The spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, Zabiullah Mujahid, denied any attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces, The Associated Press said.
The conflicting statements came just days after Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad said were militant hideouts, an escalation between Kabul and Islamabad that threatens mediation efforts by regional powers.
Pakistani security forces neutralized two rudimentary drones, which the officials said were launched by the Afghan Taliban, before they could enter the northwestern city of Kohat, the officials said. They said the action underscored Pakistan's round-the-clock vigilance and air-defense systems' readiness to counter emerging aerial threats from Afghanistan.
The airstrikes ended several weeks of relative calm following months of cross-border hostilities. Also, earlier this month, Pakistani security forces killed 15 militants attempting to cross into the country from Afghanistan.
Four local Pakistani officials said Wednesday that militants attempted to infiltrate Pakistan from areas near Afghan border posts in Paktia and Nangarhar provinces, allegedly with support from the Afghan Taliban forces.
The officials referred to the militants as Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term Islamabad uses for the Pakistani Taliban, a group that is separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing militants to operate from its territory and carry out attacks across the border, an accusation that Kabul denies.
After Pakistani troops thwarted the infiltration attempt, Afghan Taliban forces allegedly fired mortars and other heavy weapons at Pakistani border posts, the four officials said. Pakistani forces responded with artillery fire, targeting Taliban border posts, mortar sites, and defensive positions.
The officials said Afghan Taliban forces subsequently abandoned several positions and suffered casualties. The four officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media about the latest flare-up.
The accounts could not be independently verified. The latest escalations threaten mediation efforts by China, Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace between Kabul and Islamabad.
In Monday's airstrikes, Pakistan’s Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan authorities said at least three civilians died and four others were wounded. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties and Kabul formally protested the attack.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed concern about what he said was the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan.
Monday’s Pakistani airstrikes followed a shootout with militants in Hangu, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, that killed six Pakistani security personnel. Days earlier, a suicide bomber struck a mosque inside a police compound in the nearby city of Kohat.
Eight gunmen then stormed the compound, triggering a 20-hour gunbattle that killed at least 21 people, most of them police officers. No group had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Pakistani authorities blamed the violence on the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups. The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have stepped up their attacks on Pakistani security forces, boosted by the Afghan Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
This Year's El Nino-driven Heat Could Cause Nearly Half a Million More Deathshttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5321635-years-el-nino-driven-heat-could-cause-nearly-half-million-more-deaths
Long-submerged houses are exposed after prolonged drought lowers the water level of Karian Dam, in Lebak, Banten Province, Indonesia, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
This Year's El Nino-driven Heat Could Cause Nearly Half a Million More Deaths
Long-submerged houses are exposed after prolonged drought lowers the water level of Karian Dam, in Lebak, Banten Province, Indonesia, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
This year's powerful El Nino and the record global heat it's driving, along with severe droughts, wildfires and shrinking water supplies, could lead to nearly half a million more deaths worldwide by the end of February, according to a research report released Wednesday.
The grim warning by the University of Chicago-based Climate Impact Lab says that as many as 451,000 more heat-related deaths between June and the end of February could be attributed to El Nino, compared with heat deaths expected in a typical year.
The heaviest toll, the group says, is expected in poorer countries, already struggling with food insecurity and high energy costs, partly due to climate change and the fallout of the war in Iran.
Michael Greenstone, a co-founder of the group and the study's co-author, said the heat danger will likely persist beyond February — even though this El Nino is expected to end by then. The fallout of the weather phenomenon could be felt well into next summer, he added.
The research, he said, shows that heat is most dangerous in places that are already hot and relatively poor.
“If you’re already in a hot place, the extra couple of degrees are going to be much more dangerous,” he said. Wealthier places, he added, generally have greater access to air conditioning, reliable water supplies and functioning health systems.
According to The Associated Press, the study combined seasonal temperature forecasts with localized estimates of how high temperatures affect mortality across more than 24,000 regions worldwide.
Researchers estimated the additional heat-related deaths by comparing deaths expected under El Nino-driven high temperatures with deaths expected if temperatures remained similar to what they have been in the last three decades. The projected fatalities are for the entire El Nino period, from June 2026 until the end of February 2027.
FILE - A firefighter sprays water in an attempt to extinguish a wildfire burning through a peatland forest in Pulang Pisau, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Regina Safri, File)
The report says the Global South will see more heat-related deaths The study by Greenstone and his colleagues also warns that the Global South — a term that isn't geographical but a reference to developing countries in general — will bear the heaviest burden of the excessive heat.
The researchers behind the report found that the Sahel region in Africa — countries along the semiarid southern fringe of the Sahara Desert — is expected to be the hardest-hit, with about 66,800 additional deaths caused by El Nino-driven heat.
Other major hot spots include South and Southeast Asia and parts of Latin America, according to the report. The researchers project about 19,400 additional heat-related deaths across the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, as well as 19,300 in Indonesia, 15,800 in India and 13,300 in Brazil.
With such staggering numbers, there are recommended measures that governments can take, the report says. They include heat-warning systems, cooling centers, hydration stations, protections for outdoor workers, expanded hospital capacity and targeted outreach to elderly people and other vulnerable groups.
The authors also call for what they describe as anticipatory financing, so governments can move resources before dangerous heat peaks.
Abhiyant Tiwari, a heat expert at NRDC India who was not involved in the study, said the report’s projections should serve as a call to action rather than be another reason for alarm.
But while it's one thing to have well thought-out plans — as India does — implementing these plans and raising needed funds remains a challenge, he said.
"The real measure of our preparedness is not how many heat warnings we issue, but how effectively we protect people and reduce preventable deaths,” Tiwari added.
Climate change is amplifying El Nino’s record heat El Nino is a natural climate pattern, but this year’s unusually strong event is occurring on a planet already warmed by human-caused climate change, increasing the risks from extreme heat.
The Climate Impact Lab said global land temperatures during this El Nino could be higher by about 1.2 Celsius (2.1 Fahrenheit), producing 44% more extremely hot days than in a typical year. The report said those temperature increases may mirror conditions that climate change could make common some 20 years from now.
That's why this El Nino could offer a preview of what's ahead as the planet continues to warm, the report said. It's also an opportunity for decision-makers "to see exactly where emergency actions can be taken now to save tens of thousands of lives,” the authors say.
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