Yales Environment 360 | Mideast Water Wars: In Iraq, A Battle for Control of Water

Aug252014

Categories: Country, External Content, IraqAugust 25, 2014

ISIS’s efforts to control dams in Iraq and Syria are just the latest in a wider conflict over water.

HADITHA DAM, Iraq, (Sept. 16, 2007) Iraqi fisherman pull in their nets after being warned by sailors with Riverine Squadron 1, Riverine Group 1, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, in support of Regimental Combat Team 2, about the new temporary 24-hour curfew on the Euphrates River near the dam. The regiment declared the temporary curfew on the waterway to stem the suspected increase of enemy activity on the river during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. Official Marine Corps Photo By Cpl. Ryan C. Heiser.

Fights over water have pervaded the Middle East for a long time now. Water matters at least as much as land. It is at the heart of the siege of Gaza — the River Jordan is the big prize for Israel and the Palestinians. And over the years, water has brought Iraq, Syria and Turkey close to war over their shared rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris.

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Yales Environment 360 | Mideast Water Wars: In Iraq, A Battle for Control of Water

ISIS’s efforts to control dams in Iraq and Syria are just the latest in a wider conflict over water.

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