It’s one thing to hear about the severity of the drought out West, but images of Lake Mead, on the Colorado River, show an unprecedented drop in its water level and hammer home the severity of the drought.

Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, is filled to only 40 percent of capacity. The 14-year drought in the area surrounding the Colorado River basin has resulted in an astounding 150-foot drop in water levels.

The bleached “bathtub ring” visible on the banks of Lake Mead towers more than a hundred feet over passing pleasure boats. “To see it in person is simply jaw-dropping, ” said photographer Justin Sullivan, who captured these powerful images.

Sullivan traveled throughout California, Nevada, and Arizona, covering the effects of the severe drought that grips parts of the western United States.

The forecast for this summer remains ominous as a below-average snowmelt from the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah is expected to result in a low flow of water through the Colorado River Basin into two of its biggest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, said Sullivan.

The Colorado River Basin supplies water to 40 million people in seven western states, including California, which is in the midst of its fourth year of severe drought.

Several of the lake’s marinas have either relocated or closed, leaving docks that can accommodate nearly 300 boats sitting on dry, cracked earth. A hotel near the lake has closed and been abandoned, its empty swimming pool looking over the dry lakebed.

High winds kick up mini dust storms on the barren Boulder Beach and a fine dust covers cars driving down dirt roads that were once underwater. (David Handschuh/Yahoo News)

Photographs by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Water level plummets in nation's largest reservoir

A 14-year drought in the Colorado River basin area has caused an astounding 150-foot drop in Lake Mead.
Chilling images

Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group sealed its capture of Ramadi Sunday after a dramatic pullout by Iraqi forces but was prevented by Syrian troops from taking the heritage site of Palmyra.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urged government forces to hold fast in Ramadi and prevent IS from making further gains, saying they would have air cover and Shiite militia reinforcements.

The effective loss of the capital of Iraq's largest province of Anbar marked one of Baghdad's worst setbacks since it began a nationwide offensive last year to reclaim territory lost to the jihadists in June 2014.

IS said in an Internet post it fully controlled Ramadi, after a local official admitted the operations command centre there had fallen.

"God has enabled the soldiers of the caliphate to cleanse all of Ramadi... after storming the 8th brigade. They (now) control it along with a battalion of tanks and missile launchers and in addition to the Anbar operations command," the IS statement said.

Muhannad Haimour, spokesman and adviser to the provincial governor, said "Anbar operations command has been cleared".

A colonel among troops who had withdrawn added: "Daesh has just taken full control of all main security bases", using an Arabic acronym for IS.

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Residents of Ramadi flee their homes on May 16, 2015 as Islamic State group militants tightened thei …

The United States said it was still monitoring tough fighting in parts of Ramadi and described the situation as "fluid and contested."

"It is too early to make definitive statements about the situation on the ground there at this time," Pentagon spokeswoman Maureen Schumann told AFP.

Abadi said troops, tribesmen and elite forces "must hold their positions and preserve them and not allow Daesh to extend to other areas in Ramadi", spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said.

- 'Continuous air cover' -

"There is continuous air cover that will help ground troops there hold their positions while waiting for support from other forces and the Popular Mobilisation Units," he said of an umbrella group for Shiite militias.

The International Organization for Migration said around 24,000 people had been forced from their homes in three days of violence in the Ramadi area.

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A member of the Iraqi interior ministry's anti-terrorism forces stands guard on a vehicle outsid …

Haimour said at least 500 people, both civilians and military, were killed in the jihadist offensive.

A local Anbar province official said Abadi had approved the dispatch of the Popular Mobilisation Units known as Hashed al-Shaabi to Anbar.

"The provincial council of Anbar decided to call on Hashed al-Shaabi, which operates under the umbrella of the commander in-chief of the armed forces," said Mahdi Saleh al-Numan, security adviser to the Anbar governor.

The move marks a U-turn from the Sunni province's previous opposition to resorting to the Shiite force.

Shiite militia groups flashed messages on their respective TV channels vowing to flush IS out of Ramadi within days.

The jihadists used a wave of suicide car bombings to take most of the city and raised their black flag over the provincial headquarters.

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A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on May 17, 2015 shows the …

Taking full control of Ramadi, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, would be the most significant victory this year for IS, which has suffered a string of setbacks elsewhere in Iraq and Syria.

- Setback in Syria -

On Sunday IS faced another setback across the border in Syria where government forces drove them out of the ancient oasis town of Palmyra, home to a UNESCO world heritage site.

"IS's attack was foiled," provincial governor Talal Barazi said after troops routed the jihadists from the northern part of the modern town of Palmyra which they had seized on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, however, that IS fighters were still just a kilometre (less than a mile) from the archaeological site and its museum housing priceless artefacts.

It said nearly 300 people have been killed in four days of fighting -- 123 soldiers and their allies, 115 IS fighters and 57 civilians.

Syrian antiquities chief Mamoun Abdulkarim expressed relief that IS did not attack Palmyra as it has done in centuries-old sites in Iraq.

"We have good news today, we feel much better," Abdulkarim he said.

UNESCO has urged both sides to spare Palmyra, which it describes as one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.

Meanwhile, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said a rare US raid Friday on one of Syria's largest oilfields killed 32 IS militants, including four top leaders.

"The US operation killed 32 members of IS, among them four officials, including IS oil chief Abu Sayyaf, the deputy IS defence minister, and an IS communications official," he said.

American officials have said "about a dozen" people were killed in the operation by Iraq-based US commandos trying to capture Abu Sayyaf.



IS jihadis take over Ramadi, Palmyra spared

The loss of the capital of Iraq's largest province marks one of Baghdad's worst setbacks in a year.
Shiites called in

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group killed at least 500 people — both civilians and Iraqi soldiers — and forced 8,000 to flee their homes as it captured the city of Ramadi, a provincial official said Monday, while Shiite militias vowed to mount a counter-offensive and reclaim the Anbar provincial capital.

The statements followed a shocking defeat as IS seized control of Ramadi on Sunday, sending Iraqi forces fleeing in a major loss despite the support of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the extremists.

Bodies, some burned, littered the streets as local officials reported the militants carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians. Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment speeding out of Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto their sides.

"We do not have an accurate count yet," said an Anbar spokesman, Muhannad Haimour. "We estimate that 500 people have been killed, both civilians and military, and approximately 8,000 have fled the city."

The estimates are for the past three days, since Friday, when the battle for the city reached its final stages. The 8,000 figure is in addition to the enormous exodus in April, Haimour said, when the U.N. said as many as 114,000 residents fled from Ramadi and surrounding villages at the height of the violence.

Local officials have said that IS carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians.

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In this Saturday, May 16, 2015 photo, Iraqis fleeing from their hometown of Ramadi, Iraq, walk on a …

With defeat looming, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had ordered security forces not to abandon their posts across Anbar, apparently fearing the extremists could capture the entire desert region that saw intense fighting after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.

Al-Abadi also ordered Shiite militias to prepare to go into the Sunni-dominated province, ignoring U.S. concerns their presence could spark sectarian bloodshed. By late Sunday, a large number of Shiite militiamen had arrived at a military base near Ramadi, apparently to participate in a possible counter-offensive, said the head of the Anbar provincial council, Sabah Karhout.

Youssef al-Kilabi, a spokesman for the Shiite militias fighting alongside Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's forces, told The Associated Press on Monday that the paramilitary forces have drawn up plans for a Ramadi offensive in cooperation with the government security forces and vowed to dislodge IS from Ramadi.

We will "eliminate this barbaric enemy," al-Kilabi said. "God willing, we will achieve this triumph and we will not accept anything less than that."

He did not elaborate on the plans or the timing of a counter-offensive.

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In this Saturday, May 16, 2015 photo, Iraqis fleeing from their hometown of Ramadi walk on a street …

Since IS blitzed through northern and western Iraq last June, thousands of Shiites militiamen have answered the call from the country's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to take up the fight against the militants.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he remained confident about the fight against the Islamic State group, despite the setbacks like the loss of Ramadi. Kerry, traveling through South Korea, said that he's long said the fight against the militant group would be a long one, and that it would be tough in the Anbar province of western Iraq where Iraqi security forces are not built up.

Sunday's retreat recalled the collapse of Iraqi security forces last summer in the extremist group's push across Iraq that saw the IS capture a third of the country, where the group has since declared a caliphate, or Islamic State. It also calls into question the Obama administration's hopes of relying solely on airstrikes to support the Iraqi forces in expelling the extremists.

"We welcome any group, including Shiite militias, to come and help us in liberating the city from the militants," said a Sunni tribal leader, Naeem al-Gauoud. He said many tribal fighters died trying to defend the city, and bodies, some charred, were strewn in the streets, while others had been thrown in the Euphrates River.

The final IS push to take Ramadi began early Sunday with four nearly simultaneous bombings that targeted police officers defending the Malaab district in southern Ramadi, a pocket of the city still under Iraqi government control, killing at least 10 police and wounding 15, officials said. Among the dead was Col. Muthana al-Jabri, the chief of the Malaab police station. Later, three suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden cars into the gate of the Anbar Operation Command, the military headquarters for the province, killing at least five soldiers and wounding 12, the officials said.

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In this Saturday, May 16, 2015 photo, Iraqis fleeing from their hometown of Ramadi rest near the Bze …

The extremists later seized Malaab after government forces withdrew, with the militants saying they controlled the military headquarters. A police officer who was stationed at the headquarters said retreating Iraqi forces left behind about 30 army vehicles and weapons that included artillery and assault rifles. He said some two dozen police officers went missing during the fighting. The officer and the other officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

On a militant website frequented by Islamic State members, a message from the group claimed its fighters held the 8th Brigade army base, as well as tanks and missile launchers left behind by fleeing soldiers. The message could not be independently verified by the AP, but it was similar to others released by the group and was spread online by known supporters of the extremists.

Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters have made gains against IS elsewhere in Iraq, including capturing the northern city of Tikrit, with the help of U.S. airstrikes.

But progress has been slow in Anbar, a Sunni province where anger at the Shiite-led government runs deep and where U.S. forces struggled for years to beat back a potent insurgency. Previous estimates suggested the Islamic State group held at least 65 percent of the vast Anbar.

American soldiers fought some of their bloodiest battles since Vietnam on the streets of Ramadi and Fallujah.

___

Associated Press writer Vivian Salama contributed to this report from Dahuk, Iraq.

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli nationalists and police clashed with Palestinians in occupied east Jerusalem on Sunday as crowds of Jewish hardliners marched across the city to mark the 48th anniversary of its capture.

Known as Jerusalem Day, the anniversary marks the seizure in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexation of mainly Arab east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

Police said two officers were wounded by Palestinian stone-throwers and at least four Palestinians were arrested near the walled Old City's Damascus Gate.

The demonstrators were dispersed by baton-wielding police, some on horseback.

A police statement said that in one incident "several dozen Muslims scuffled with a group of Jews".

Onlookers said at least two Palestinians were wounded in various clashes, and video footage showed a man being taken away on a stretcher by Red Crescent ambulance staff.

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Palestinian women hold a 'Palestine' scarf as Israeli youths hold their national flag as the …

A Palestinian cameraman working for France's TF1 television was beaten with flagpoles by the Jewish marchers, producer Michael Illouz told AFP.

He said that Jamil Kadamani was hit on the head, back and hands and taken to hospital for examination.

Witnesses also saw journalists shoved by police.

Police would not say how many jubilant Zionists descended on the Old City's Muslim Quarter on their way to pray at the Western Wall Jewish holy site, only that "large crowds" were expected.

"They are coming here with the support of an extremist government that paid for their buses," a Palestinian woman, Muna Barbar, told AFP outside Damascus Gate.

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A Palestinian demonstrator is detained by Israeli police during the Israeli "flag march" t …

The Palestinians want the eastern sector of the city as the capital of their promised state, and vigorously oppose any attempt to extend Israeli control.

But Israeli leaders have repeatedly vowed that the city will never again be split, calling it their "eternal, indivisible" capital.

"Jerusalem has always been the capital of the Jewish people alone and not of any other people," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at an official Jerusalem Day ceremony.

"A divided Jerusalem is a past memory: the future belongs to a complete Jerusalem which will not be divided again."

- 'Zero tolerance' -

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A Palestinian woman holds up a national flag as she demonstrates outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem& …

Jerusalem Day is marked by a series of state ceremonies and an annual march through western Jerusalem and into the east side, which is predominantly attended by nationalist hardliners.

Every year, police deploy in strength to secure the march, which frequently provokes clashes.

This year, two non-governmental organisations appealed to the Israeli High Court to change the route so the march would not pass through the Muslim Quarter.

But last week, the court rejected the appeal, noting it did so "with a heavy heart".

In their ruling, the justices stressed there should be "zero tolerance" of anyone involved in violence, and that police should arrest anyone chanting "death to Arabs".

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Young Israeli nationalists wave a national flag outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's old city on …

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said "thousands of police" were in and around the Old City.

Spokeswoman Luba Samri said both uniformed and undercover officers were on the streets.

"The police will show zero tolerance to any display of physical or verbal violence, will act with every means at its disposal against anyone disturbing the peace or rioting, who will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," she said.

- 'March of hate' -

Leftist groups, including members of the Meretz party's youth wing, held a counter-demonstration outside city hall to protest against what it called the "march of hate".

An AFP journalist said about 100 people took part amid a large police presence and there was no trouble.

One participating group, the anti-racism movement Tag Meir, said the annual march had become "a focus for extremist groups" and was routinely accompanied by "racist slurs and insults, destruction of property and physical violence against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem".

"This year we say a loud and clear 'No to the violence, the hatred and the incitement' which threaten the delicate fabric of daily life in Jerusalem," it said.

The group said its supporters would walk through the Muslim Quarter giving flowers to residents as a gesture of peace and coexistence.

Tag Meir was one of two NGOs which unsuccessfully petitioned the Supreme Court to change the route of the march.

Later Sunday, Netanyahu was to join President Reuven Rivlin for a ceremony on Ammunition Hill in east Jerusalem, a former Jordanian military post that saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the 1967 war.

Today, some 200,000 Israelis live in 15 settlement neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem alongside a Palestinian population of 310,000.