Iraq: ISIS is Using Water as a Weapon in Iraq

Jul 15, 2014 | PRI
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According to a report by meterologist Eric Holthaus, militant groups in Iraq are taking advantage of the country's drought, squeezing Baghdad by controlling the water flow to the capital. "ISIS is starting to use dams as weapon of war," he says. "So they've made [it] high on their list to take over those dams and control the water downstream."

In places like Mosul, the city in northern Iraq where ISIS (also referred to as IS) began its current string of conquests, they've already done so. That allows them to control the flow of water to the Shiite areas in the south. Reporter John Vidal, in The Mail and Guardian, explained how the Iraqi goverment is scrambling to defend its natural resources: