As news reports and videos about the weather event began circulating on social media, several users took to the comment sections, claiming that Mossad, Tel Aviv’s national intelligence agency, caused the storm. Meanwhile, other users alleged it was caused by Israeli bases in Iraq.

CLAIM

Dust storm in Iraq caused by Israel

WHAT HAPPENED

On May 18, 2026, a dust storm swept across Iraq’s Najaf, turning the skies orange as low visibility disrupted traffic across the city. Visuals showed streets shrouded in thick dust, sending people to hospitals with breathing difficulties. According to Iraqi News, a local media outlet, the emergency department of the city’s Al-Hakeem Hospital was crowded with patients.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health announced that national medical facilities registered over 800 cases of suffocation and respiratory distress across several provinces, and directed all health directorates to maintain a state of maximum alert and ensure the continuous mobilisation of medical institutions to provide immediate therapeutic services to affected citizens.

Screengrab from the comments section of videos showing the recent dust storm in Iraq.

WHAT WE FOUND

A keyword search yielded a research paper on dust storms in Iraq, which stated that such storms were “typical in arid and semi-arid regions where loose soil or barren surfaces are prevalent, such as the Middle East”. Dust storms were the most noteworthy natural hazard in Iraq and surrounding areas, apart from the dry environment characterised by high temperatures, low humidity, and minimal precipitation, the paper noted.

Similarly, a 2025 report by Nasa said dust storms in Iraq were most common during late spring and summer, provoked by seasonal winds that blow from the north-northwest across abundant sources of dust.

Further investigation revealed that storms similar to the one that occurred on May 18 were previously also reported in 2025 and 2022 by The Guardian, BBC and other credible media outlets. All of the reports stated that dust storms were common in Iraq, and that climate change — fuelled by desertification in Saudi Arabia and Syria — was expected to intensify them across the region in the future.

In a 2025 article, Al Jazeera cited a United Nations report as saying that sand and dust storms were affecting about 330 million people due to climate change. The storms “are fast becoming one of the most overlooked yet far-reaching global challenges of our time”, said Assembly President Philemon Yang. “They are driven by climate change, land degradation and unsustainable practices.”

Additional results yielded a report by The Times of Israel, dated April 2, 2026, which stated that a dust storm, carried by strong winds from North Africa, had engulfed the country. It also included visuals similar to those from Iraq. The report cited a warning from a Hebrew University climate expert, Assaf Hochman, saying dust storms were likely to become more common and start earlier than usual due to climate change.

The beach in Tel Aviv during a dust storm, February 14, 2026. — Times of Israel

Furthermore, a reverse image search yielded a video report by The Guardian dated April 2 with the caption: “A Saharan dust storm blanketed the Mediterranean island of Crete as winds of up to force 9 on the Beaufort scale carried dust from north Africa, forcing several flights to be rerouted. The dust storm came as heavy rain and gale-force winds battered Greece, flooding dozens of homes and leading to at least one death.” This shows that dust storms are not just limited to the Middle East or Iraq.

iVerify Pakistan also reached out to Fatima Yamin, a disaster and climate change expert, who concurred that dust storms were common and natural in the region. However, the world’s oceans were heating up rapidly, and the wind systems were changing in intensity, she said.

“The war [in the Middle East] is contributing to an increase in global warming and accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere, but it wouldn’t have an immediate effect like this one,” she explained.

As for the claims regarding human technology being used to cause climate events, Yamin said they were not backed by scientific evidence. “In my opinion, that technology doesn’t exist right now,” she added.