HABBANIYAH, HAWR AL-

English Lake Habbaniyah lake in al-Anbar muhafazah (governorate), western Iraq. It is a shallow body of slightly saline water, 54 sq mi (140 sq km) in area, separated from the Euphrates River to the north by the Asibi and Zaban ridges. The lake has been used since antiquity for storing floodwater from the Euphrates; it now provides water for irrigation as well. A barrage at ar-Ramadi, at the lake's northwestern tip, diverts Euphrates water into it, and other channels carry water to a second storage basin, the Abu Dibs depression. During the long period of British military presence in Iraq, there was an important Royal Air Force base just north of the lake.