In an area north of the city of Al-Basrah, Iraq, which borders Iran, a former wetland has been drained and walled off. Now littered with minefields and gun emplacments, it is a staging area for military exercises.

This image was acquired by Landsat 7’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) sensor on January 24, 2001. This is a false-color composite image made using near-infrared, red, and green wavelengths. The image has also been sharpened using the sensor’s panchromatic band.

Image provided by the USGS EROS Data Center Satellite Systems Branch