ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Authorities in Baghdad on Wednesday closed several metal smelting and open-air burning sites in violation of environmental regulations as a broader effort to reduce pollution in the city, which ranks among the world’s most polluted. 

“In cooperation with detachments from the National Security Service, the Ministry of Environment, and municipal departments, the committee has closed several sites due to the harm they cause to the health and safety of citizens,” Baghdad Operations Command said in a statement, without specifying the number of facilities.

“This aims to reduce pollution resulting from the emission of gases and odors associated with production processes,” it added.

Baghdad, ranked the 13th globally among the world’s most polluted cities, according to the Swiss agency IQAir. The Iraqi capital has been experiencing intense pollution, with a lack of environmental control and excessive waste burning exacerbating the effects.

The command reaffirmed that it “continues to monitor and inspect metal smelting sites and close unlicensed and illegal facilities that violate environmental regulations and conditions.”

In November, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR) warned that Iraq is experiencing one of the worst levels of air pollution in the wider region and that it is “breathing danger.” It cited the lack of environmental control, expanding emission sources, and arbitrary burnings as the main causes.

Iraq’s environment ministry said at the time that recent measures taken had decreased air pollution in the capital.

In late November, Baghdad’s Operations Command closed Camp Rashid in the capital’s southeast to reduce pollution caused by unregulated waste burning, which violates health and environmental regulations. A month prior, it shut down over 260 construction metal factories that violated regulations.