Fire Fighting Efforts in Hour-al Azim Put on Hold

Although the cities and villages of Khuzestan Province are still grappling with the thick smoke rising from the wildfire in the Iraqi side of Hour-al Azim wetland, Iran has suspended its fire fighting operations after they proved ineffective in containing the blaze. 
According to Adel Mola, a deputy at the provincial office of the Department of Environment, spraying water by choppers and water-dropping aircraft have not been helpful so far, so the efforts were abandoned. 
“The only way to put out the flames is to open water toward the wetland from its feeders, the Tigris in Iraq and Karkheh in Iran,” he said in a talk to IRNA, calling on diplomatic bodies to pursue the matter. 
Ground operations are impossible since the area contains live landmines remaining from the eight-year Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).