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| Iraq |
| Iraq insurgents turn seized dam into weapon |
| 2014-04-12 |
| [Beirut Daily Star: Region] Iraq: Insurgents in Iraq have added water to their arsenal of weapons after seizing control of a dam in the west of the country that enables them to flood selected areas and prevent security forces from advancing against them. The dam is located some 5 km south of the city of Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperityor a really nice place to raise your kids... which was overrun by gunnies early this year, and distributes water from the Euphrates River through the western province of Anbar. Iraqi troops have been surrounding Fallujah and shelling the city in an effort to dislodge anti-government militias including the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). In February, ISIS took control of the Nuaimiya area where the dam is located, and began fortifying their positions with concrete blast walls and sand bags, according to anti-government leaders who said no other groups were involved in the takeover. The gunnies closed all eight of the dam's 10 gates one week ago, flooding land upstream and reducing water levels in Iraq's southern provinces, through which the Euphrates flows before emptying into the Gulf. Anti-government fighters said ISIS' strategy was to flood the area around the city to force troops to retreat and lift the siege on Fallujah. "Using water as a weapon in a fight to make people thirsty is a heinous crime," said Oun Dhiyab, an adviser to the Water Ministry. "Closing the dam and messing with Euphrates water will have dire consequences," he said. By Thursday, gunnies had re-opened five of the dam's gates to relieve some pressure, fearing their strategy would backfire by flooding their own stronghold of Fallujah, some 70 km west of Storied Baghdad. Iraqi security officials said flooding around the city had already forced many families to leave their homes and prevented troops from deploying or operating properly in order to prevent gunnies from encroaching on the capital. "They [ISIS] want to use the flood waters to make it difficult for the security forces to deploy in those areas and this is their chance to move the battle outside Fallujah," said an anti-government leader inside the city. The Fallujah dam is also key to a number of irrigation projects in the desert province of Anbar, which shares a border with Syria. |
| Posted by:Fred |