The receding waterline of Lake Habbaniyeh in Iraq's Anbar province had left behind extensive arid land as years of drought have shrunken the majestic lake, keeping away the holidaymakers who once flocked there during summer. Baghdad blames upstream dam construction by Turkey on a staggering low water level in the Euphrates river, which feeds the lake and also runs through Syria. "The lake's capacity is three billion and three hundred million cubic meters. The lake's water level has dropped by nine meters and the lake has now only 500-700 million cubic meters," says an Iraqi official. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES