Why is iraq a desert

In , after years of sanctions against Iraq, the United States invaded again out of concern that Saddam Hussein was making dangerous weapons. Saddam Hussein was captured, tried for crimes against humanity, and executed.

All rights reserved. Personality Quizzes. Funny Fill-In. Amazing Animals. Weird But True! Party Animals. Try This! Explore More. Schoolchildren play on a playground in Iraq. Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Map created by National Geographic Maps. Watch "Destination World". Now Playing. Up Next. North America. South America. More to explore. The most common animals are birds, such as ducks, partridges, snipes and herons, and small mammals like badgers, otters, and muskrats.

Other wild animals include camels, pigs, jackals, foxes and rabbits. Various species of water buffalo are bred in the marshlands. Desert locusts, which are common across the Middle East, also live in Iraq.

Few forests exist, with the exception of small oak forests in the north and northeast. Alpine plants grow in the cool, dry climate of the mountains. Shrubs and herbs grow in the more arid regions, and grasses and lush plants thrive along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Two of the most common lush plants are licorice and the date palm. By some estimates, Iraq has more than 22 million date trees.

Other major crops include barley, wheat, watermelons, tomatoes, grapes, cucumbers, and oranges. Skip to main content. You are here Home » About Iraq. Geography Baghdad. But there is another problem beyond renovation and preservation, Jlihawi said. If they came, "where would the tourists go? Energy-rich Iraq suffered due to a decline in world oil prices and has been struggling with rising prices, high unemployment and poverty, which doubled last year to 40 percent amid the Covid pandemic.

Historical sites in the central province of Kirkuk are also in a sad state of disrepair and "neither authorities nor private organisations are doing anything for heritage", said resident Muhammad Taha. He pointed to the 3,year-old citadel and the "qishla", an Ottoman-era garrison, where chunks of mosaics have crumbled while sections of wall threaten to crash down.

Galloping desertification in a country where desert already covers 50 percent of the territory is threatening human and animal life, and has sounded death knells for Mesopotamian sites as well as recent constructions. Abdullah al-Jlihawi from Diwaniya recalled that between the s and the s archeological ruins "were protected by the green belt".

But trees that had blocked the wind were burned, blasted apart by shelling during successive Iraqi wars or felled to make way for new towns.

Scorching summer temperates above 50 degrees Fahrenheit , dust storms and heavy winter rains have also dealt blows to Iraqi heritage. And many fear that sites built with bricks made thousands of years ago by Mesopotamian labourers will one day soon turn back into dust.