Moisture is a primary cause for this natural event to take place in such dry climate. "Moisture tends to weigh dirt down and keep it in place, so more dust storms tend to occur during droughts. Human activity that disturbs the soil, such as construction or fallowing farm fields, can also expose dirt that can contribute to storms" (Paragraph 7).
There has been a "severe increase of sand and dust storms in the middle East in the past 15 years" as per BBC News, as well as an increase in the intensity of them.
If continued, dust and sand storms could cause the "disappearance of marshes and drying up of lakes" as what has been occurring in Iraq and Iran in 2016. A couple of years earlier in 2013, a similar event occurred in the previous regions with winds of 60mph with less severe turnouts than those experienced recently.
The image above used to be the Aral Sea in Kazahstan but due to high winds, much of it has dried out.
"Disruptions to transportation and potentially dangerous air quality are typically the two biggest impacts of the storms..." (Paragraph 4) and as mentioned previously, so is the impact that humans have upon the land, which causes the dirt to be exposed. Hopefully, with measures taken within humanity, less land can be used and the impact of dust storms can be minimized to a lower extent. With small measures, humans can lower the impact but not completely prevent it.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150908-middle-east-dust-storm-haboob-weather/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36553594
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34185291
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