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The Drought That Felled Assad
January 9th, 2025
Via Foreign Policy in Focus, commentary on the impact that drought played in Syria’s recent revolution: The meteorological drought that swept through the Fertile Crescent (stretching from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Nile Valley) in the 2000s finally ended up undoing the Assad regime in Syria and forcing Bashar al-Assad to flee to Moscow under […]
Read more »The Looming Climate and Water Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa
April 19th, 2024
Via Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a look at the looming climate and water crisis in MENA: INTRODUCTION The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is naturally prone to being hot and dry, in stark contrast with the rest of the world. The region’s arid climate is the primary contributor to its perennial state […]
Read more »Scientists Blame Climate Change for ‘Extreme Drought’ in Iraq, Iran and Syria
November 13th, 2023
Via Terra Daily, a report on ‘extreme drought’ in Iraq, Iran and Syria; The “extreme” drought gripping Iraq, Syria and Iran would not have occurred without climate change caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, scientists said Wednesday, warning that punishing dry spells will become more intense as the world warms.High temperatures due to human-caused climate […]
Read more »Tigris–Euphrates Basin States Must Come Together To Address Water Crisis
October 18th, 2023
Via ASPI’s The Strategist, a look at the need for Tigris–Euphrates basin states to come together to address the water crisis: In a dramatic display of collective frustration, the streets of Baghdad recently became a theatre of dissent as around 300 Iraqis took to Nisour Square to protest acute water shortages. The demonstrations were held on 18 […]
Read more »Drought, Migration and the Fall of Civilization: A Cautionary Tale
October 16th, 2023
Via The Hill, commentary on similarities between today’s world and the rise/fall of Mesopotamia: The writer George Santayana once famously said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This adage seems especially poignant at this moment with the twin conflicts that are playing out in the Western and Eastern hemispheres. For, this […]
Read more »Syrians Despair at Water Loss, River Pollution
July 28th, 2023
Via Al-Monitor, a look at the impact that reduced flows and pollution have had upon Syria’s water-based industries: Around war-torn Syria’s biggest freshwater dam reservoir, fishermen say their catch is now a fraction of what it used to be as environmental pressures have decimated aquatic life. Ismail Hilal, 50, sat on the hull of his […]
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