[Published here July 28, 2021]
BEIRUT, July 28 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Severe water shortages in Iran in recent weeks have prompted electricity outages and even sparked deadly protests, but analysts say the underlying causes go back decades – and will rattle the country for much longer than this summer’s drought.
Continue reading[Published here March 29, 2021]
Hassanein Mohsen spent months protesting against corruption in Iraq. He also lodged complaints against officials. But now he is shunned as a whistleblower and sees only one way out: emigration.
Continue reading[Published here May 1, 2019]
Al-Mashahada (Iraq) (AFP) – After plentiful winter rains, Iraq is heading into summer with overflowing reservoirs and lush marshes. But don’t be fooled, observers warn: its water woes and related protests are not over.
[Published here July 8, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – Syria’s Raqa once thrived on the banks of the gushing Euphrates River, but dire shortages in the Islamic State group stronghold are forcing desperate civilians to risk their lives for water.
Debris and filth litter the camp’s water supplies
[Published originally here]
In an informal tented settlement just outside of Zahle, dozens of Syrian refugee women and girls crowd around faucets pumping water out of a large plastic tank. The “UN truck,” as they call it, has just filled their settlement’s communal tank with thousands of liters of water, and they rush to collect their share before it’s gone. After filling their buckets and bottles, they return, water sloshing, to their tents to drink, cook and clean.
MAYA GEBEILY 