Withering orchards: Iraq’s Euphrates reduced to footpath in Babil

Shafaq News – Babil

Large sections of the Euphrates River in the district of Kifl, south of Babil province, have dried to the point where people can cross on foot, leaving nearby farmland devastated.

Aerial images obtained by Shafaq News reveal vast stretches of exposed riverbed, the result of a sharp decline in water levels. Local farmers said orchards of figs and date palms have withered, while surviving livestock now face severe water shortages.

“The remaining water is not enough to irrigate our crops,” residents told Shafaq News, appealing to both local and federal authorities for emergency measures to protect their land and herds.

Iraq is grappling with an unprecedented water crisis, marked by the drying of tributaries, marshes, and reservoirs due to declining rainfall and reduced water flows from neighboring Turkiye. Experts warn that the country has endured four major droughts in less than a decade—2017, 2021, 2023, and 2025—with the latest described as “the harshest in 80 years,” according to environmental specialist Ahmed Saleh.