TOOL OF WAR
Humanitarians struggle in Iraq as ISIL restricts flow of water.
• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants have reduced the amount of water flowing to government-held areas in Iraq’s western Anbar province, an official said Thursday, the latest in the vicious war as Iraqi forces struggle to claw back ground held by the extremists in the Sunni heartland.
It’s not the first time water has been used as a weapon of war in Mideast conflicts and in Iraq in particular. This year, the jihadists reduced the flow through another lock outside the ISIL-held town of Fallujah, also in Anbar. But they soon reopened it after complaints from residents.
ISIL captured Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital, last month, its most significant victory since a U.S.led coalition began an air campaign against the extremists in August. This was after the jihadists had blitzed across much of western and northern Iraq, capturing key Anbar cities and Mosul, Iraq’s secondlargest city that lies to the north of Baghdad.
Also Thursday, UN officials urgently called for almost $498 million in donations to provide shelter, food, water and other life-saving services for the next six months to Iraqis displaced or affected by the fighting between government forces and ISIL.
The reduced flow of water through the militant-held dam on the Euphrates River will threaten irrigation systems and water treatment plants in nearby areas controlled by troops and tribes opposed to the extremist group, said provincial council member Taha AbdulGhani.
He said there would be no immediate effect on Shiite areas in central and southern Iraq, as water is being diverted to those areas from the Tigris River.
The United Nations said Wednesday it was looking into reports ISIL had reduced the flow of water through the al-Warar dam.
“The use of water as a tool of war is to be condemned in no uncertain terms,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon. “These kinds of reports are disturbing, to say the least.”
The UN and its humanitarian partners will try to “fill in the gaps” to meet water needs for those affected.
In Brussels, UN officials said the needs of Iraqis affected by the fighting are huge and growing, with more than eight million requiring
We’re relying on ourselves, but fighting is very hard this way
immediate support, and potentially 10 million by the end of 2015.
Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said the aid operation, which she called one of the most complex and volatile in the world, was hanging by a thread.
“Humanitarian partners have been doing everything they can to help. But more than 50 per cent of the operation will be shut down or cut back if money is not received immediately,” she told members of the European Parliament.
The consequences of such a reduction in aid would be “catastrophic.”
“While we search for solutions to end the violence, we must do everything in our power to help,” said Kyung-Wha Kang, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, also in Brussels. “The people of Iraq need our help, now.”
At a one-day conference in Paris Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had pressed his case for more support from the 25 countries in the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIL, asking for more armament and ammunition.
“We’re relying on ourselves, but fighting is very hard this way,” alAbadi said before the conference.
The coalition has mustered a mix of airstrikes, intelligence sharing and assistance for Iraqi ground operations against the extremists. Al-Abadi said more was needed, with Iraq reeling after troops pulled out of Ramadi without a fight and abandoned U.S.-supplied tanks and weapons.