Islamic State jihadists are using water as

a weapon in Iraq
Iraqis take water from a humanitarian aid convoy in Amerli after Iraqi forces broke
through to the jihadist-besieged Shiite town the previous day. (m !ope"#A$%#&etty
Images'
(y )rin *unningham +ctober , at ,-., A/
BAGHDAD The Islamic State militants who have rampaged across northern Iraq
are increasingly using water as a weapon, cutting o supplies to villages resisting
their rule and pressing to e!pand their control over the country"s water
inrastructure#
The threat rom the $ihadists is so critical that %#S# orces are &om&ing the militants
close to &oth the 'osul and Haditha dams Iraq"s largest on a near(daily &asis#
But the radical Islamists continue to menace &oth acilities#
The Sunni militants want to sei)e the dams to &olster their claim they are &uilding
an actual state* the dams are +ey to irrigating the country"s vast wheat ields and
providing Iraqis with electricity# 'ore ominously, the Islamic State has used its
control over water acilities including as many as our dams along the Tigris and
,uphrates rivers to displace communities or deprive them o crucial water
supplies#
The Islamic State -understands how powerul water is as a tool, and they are not
araid to use it,. said 'ichael Stephens, a 'iddle ,ast e!pert and deputy director o
the /oyal %nited Services Institute, a 0ondon(&ased security studies thin+ tan+#
A lot o eort has &een e!pended to control resources in Iraq in a way not seen in
other conlicts,. he added#
1ater has long played a role in armed struggle, rom the Allied &om&ing o German
dams during 1orld 1ar II to Saddam Hussein"s draining o Iraq"s southern
marshes in the 2334s to punish residents or an anti(government re&ellion#
But the idea o a radical, non(state group gaining authority over critical water
inrastructure has raised particular worry# The 1hite House was so alarmed in
August when Islamic State ighters &riely sei)ed the 'osul Dam located on the
Tigris /iver that runs through Baghdad that it &ac+ed a ma$or operation &y Iraqi
and 5urdish orces to wrest it &ac+#
I that dam was &reached, it could have proven catastrophic, with loods that
would have threatened the lives o thousands o civilians and endangered our
em&assy compound in Baghdad,. 6resident 7&ama said on Aug# 28, on the day
Iraqi orces retoo+ the structure#
Having nurtured the world"s irst civili)ations along the 9ertile :rescent the
ancient strip o ood(&earing land that arced across the 'iddle ,ast Iraq"s Tigris
and ,uphrates rivers remain the lie&lood o Iraq"s agricultural lie# They also
generate its electricity and provide water that is piped in to households#
But water levels in Iraq have allen in recent years, due to decreased rainall, heavy
water use and other actors, the %nited ;ations says# According to the world &ody,
the low o the ,uphrates is e!pected to decline &y more than <4 percent &y =4=<#
By then, Iraq could already &e suering rom a shortage o >> &illion cu&ic meters
o water per year, %#;# oicials say#
The country does not have enough ?water@, and shortages have &een huge
economic and thus political pro&lems or several years now,. said 5enneth
6ollac+, an e!pert on 'iddle ,astern military aairs at the Broo+ings Institution#
Any attempts &y the Islamic State to cut lows -would &e enormously damaging,. he
said#
The Sunni e!tremists o the Islamic State say Shiite 'uslims are apostates# In Iraq,
the militants accuse the Shiite population o &ac+ing a sectarian government that
has oppressed Sunnis#
0I)1 &2A%3I*
1ater wars in Iraq
In April, Islamic State $ihadists controlling the 9allu$ah dam in western An&ar
province closed its gates, in a move that some Iraqi oicials say was meant to slow
the low o water to the Shiite(dominated provinces in the south#
But the su&sequent &uildup o water at the 9allu$ah dam ended up looding an
irrigation channel in a Sunni area near&y, sending a wave o water into homes,
schools and armland# The deluge which also swept away livestoc+ and sent
residents scram&ling or ma+eshit rats ended up aecting as many as A4,444
people, aid wor+ers said#
0ast month, the Islamic State used its control o the Sudur mini(dam north o
Baghdad to cut o water to Balad /u), a predominantly Shiite area o Diyala
province# According to the town"s mayor, who spo+e to an Iraqi news agency in
Septem&er, the militants lined the roads to the dam with improvised e!plosive
devices, and the government was orced to hire truc+s to &ring pota&le water to the
residents#
/ecently, a local oicial in Diyala province said Islamic State militants looded nine
villages in the Shirwain area &y diverting water rom near&y rivers, in order to
prevent the advance o Iraqi security orces#
1e are in a conlict with the Islamic State over water in Iraq# They want to control
it at any price,. said A&dul 'a$id Satar, the minister o agriculture and water
resources or the 5urdistan /egional Government, which administers a semi(
autonomous area in northern Iraq#
They can threaten many parts o the country i they control the water,. Satar said#
The Islamic State militants captured 'osul, Iraq"s second(largest city, in Bune, and
two months later e!panded their oensive even urther into northern Iraqi
territory#
'any o the areas occupied in that August oensive have since &een reta+en &y
5urdish pesh merga orces with the help o %#S# airstri+es# But when the $ihadists
departed, they used their control o the water and power networ+s in 'osul to shut
o water and electricity to those areas, which are connected to the same grids#
1e came &ac+ to our villages and when we saw there was no power or water, we
let again,. said 'a)oot Shaqer 'ohammad, a 5urdish armer rom the northern
Iraqi district o Gwer, one o the areas that 5urdish ighters too+ &ac+#
,ven when they withdraw, they are still in power,. 'ohammad said o the
militants# -They are not occupying land# But now they are controlling the return o
people to these villages#.
In a telephone interview, a longtime employee o the 'osul water directorate, now
under the control o Islamic State, was guarded in tal+ing a&out the shuto o water
to certain villages#
All I +now is that we always supplied these villages with water, and now we can"t,.
the employee, who gave his name only as Salah# -But I do &elieve the armed group
?the Islamic State@ is using water as a weapon,. he said#
In another small village near Gwer, the Islamic State too+ a dierent approach#
In the wheat(arming hamlet o Tal+haneim, the $ihadists retreated &ut shut o the
power that was used to draw water rom the two local wells# Then the militants
contacted a local oicial to say they would turn it &ac+ on i there was payment,
according to a 5urdish resident and armer, I&rahim Ismail /asool#
They as+ed or A million dinars CD>,<44E to turn the electricity &ac+ on# They are
acting li+e a government, collecting &ills,. said /asool, his ace &ron)ed rom years
toiling in the sun, in a recent interview#
1ithout water, none o the residents could return home, nor could they maintain
their livestoc+# /asool said he and the other villagers as+ed 5urdish oicials i they
could pay the Islamic State to get their power and water &ac+#
The government said no# That they don"t want to deal with Daash,. he said, using
the Ara&ic acronym or the Islamic State# -But it"s air that i they supply me with
electricity, I should pay them#.
Salar Salim in Ir&il, Iraq, contri&uted to this report#
)rin *unningham is an )gypt-based correspondent for 4he %ost. She previously
covered con5icts in the /iddle )ast and Afghanistan for the *hristian Science
/onitor6 &lobal%ost and 4he 7ational.
6osted &y Thavam