Farmers across Lebanon are anxiously awaiting rain to sustain their crops. Yet more than a month has passed since the usual stop of irrigation, and the long-anticipated winter has yet to arrive.

Iraq is confronting an unprecedented water crisis as the Tigris in Baghdad now resembles a shallow canal hemmed in by mud islands, while the Euphrates continues to recede across western provinces.

The most serious blow was the destruction of the main pumping station at Thaalah, which once supplied between 60-70% of Suwayda city’s water.

Despite decades of warning signs such as dwindling groundwater reserves, shrinking river flows, and a steady decline in rainfall, Lebanon’s successive governments have been neglecting the water crisis since at least 1975.

Crowded spaces, lack of lavatories, and dozens of families sharing the same limited water sources have turned daily life into a breeding ground for disease.

The crisis has already fueled displacement and severley impacted Iraq’s agricultural sector, reducing its contribution to the national economy.