Newshour - Huge dust storm engulfs swathes of the Middle East - BBC Sounds

A huge dust storm has engulfed a great swathe of the Middle East.

It is Iraq's eighth sandstorm since mid-April and the red haze reduced visibility to just a few hundred feet in Baghdad and southern Iraqi cities.

Hundreds of people have been hospitalised with breathing difficulties according to medical officials, and some state schools and offices have closed.

Professor Jaafar Jotheri is a geo-archaeologist at the University of Al-Qadisiyah in Diwaniyah in Iraq. He describes living in a dust storm as like a "nightmare because it affects your body in terms of your breathing, your eyes in terms of seeing and your everyday life."