Al Anbar Governorate

Iraqi merchant Mohamed has never seen such a grim tourist season: Years of drought have shrunken the majestic Lake Habbaniyah, keeping away the holidaymakers who once flocked there during summer

"The last two years, there was some activity, but now there's no more water," said 35-year-old Mohamed, asking to be identified by his first name only.

One person died in Iraq and more than 5,000 were treated in hospitals on May 5 for respiratory ailments due to a sandstorm, the seventh in a month, the Health Ministry said.

A US military helicopter has crashed on the Iraq-Syria border while carrying seven people on board, The Daily Express reported.
The helicopter is believed to have crashed in the Anbar region of Iraq.

According to CNN, the helicopter was carrying seven personnel.

The helicopter was not believed to be on a military mission at the time of the crash.

Members of the Islamic State terrorist group took as hostages at least 30 policemen in the city of Ramadhi, 100 km from Baghdad in central Iraq, the Al Jazeera television channel.

The United Nations said March 17 that it was concerned that many of the 35,000 people recently displaced by fighting in Iraq's Anbar province were still very close to the front lines.

Thousands of civilians have been fleeing Hit, 145 kilometers west of Baghdad, as security forces close in on fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) hunkered down in the city.

Two weeks after declaring victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Ramadi, Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces have pushed militants out to its eastern suburbs, but bombs littering the streets are holding up efforts to rebuild the city, officials said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered Dec. 30 to help Iraq restore basic services to Ramadi and allow refugees to quickly return to the city after it was recaptured from jihadists.

Ban made the offer during a telephone conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who visited Ramadi after his forces drove out the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

More than 1,500 schools have been damaged or destroyed as a result of the conflict in Iraq's troubled Anbar province alone, a spokesman said on August 3.
 

The number of people displaced within Iraq due to violence and fighting by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has exceeded 3 million, the United Nations said June 23, a grim milestone for the war-battered country.

Two of America's top military leaders will be asked to defend President Barack Obama's handling of the tinderbox of violence and struggle in the Middle East.