978-1-4222-3442-6

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T HE L AND

The Zagros Mountains are a mountainous area of Kurdistan, in northern Iraq near the border with Iran and Turkey.

permit only grazing for cattle, sheep, and goats, but on the lower, gentler slopes people cultivate fruit and nut trees. Several streams in the highlands flow southeast into the Tigris, including the Khabur, Great Zab, Little Zab, Udhaym, and Diyala. The Iraqi government began hydraulic projects along some of these rivers in the 1950s. The Kukan Dam and reservoir and the Debs Dam were built on the Little Zab, and the Darbandikhan Dam and reservoir were constructed on the upper Diyala.