The 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War was so horrific that it has come to be known as the Middle East’s First World War. The numbers speak for themselves. Some estimates put the number of casualties as high as 2 million people. But parallels with Europe between 1914 and 1918 do not stop at the number of deaths. It was also the modernised, indiscriminate nature of the killing, in which chemical weapons were used and deadly trench warfare dragged fighting and suffering on for eight years.
That war ended 34 years ago, but for the residents of Iraq’s border regions it may feel unresolved. Dangers from the fighting still linger. None are more ubiquitous and terrifying than landmines. Today, Iraq is one of the most mined countries in the world. Whole areas of the country, both rural and urban, are cordoned-off because of the devices, which were prohibited under the Ottawa Treaty in 1997.
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Source: The National