On eve of elections, Iraq's waters become weapons of war
While confrontations continued in various regions of Iraq between armed militants and the government, both sides have tried to take control of water resources to achieve their interests.
The problems faced by Iraqi citizens are increasingly intensifying, as they continue to suffer from government mismanagement and violent terrorist groups that have become prevalent in all parts of the country. In the latest developments, the government and terrorist groups have been using water as a tool in the conflict. Ironically, Baghdad has been divided in two starting a few days ago: One part is suffering from water scarcity, while the other part is flooded.
The idea of a water war started in Anbar, where army operations gradually turned into irregular wars that were not decided in the favor of either side, given the length and type of the ongoing fighting there. Some of the leaders of the military operations in Anbar came up with this idea a month ago, when the army took control of the Haditha Dam (240 kilometers, or 150 miles, west of Baghdad) to flood the areas where the insurgents were present. This flooded some residential areas, while water has been cut off in other areas in Anbar.
This also pushed terrorist groups to use the same tactic. They retaliated in the same way when they closed the Fallujah Barrage in early April to achieve two goals. First, they wanted to flood the areas near Fallujah that were under the army control. Before long, the army was no longer able to advance and continue military operations. Second, they wanted to impose restrictions on the southern Shiite-majority provinces by cutting off water to them. As a result, Najaf province suffered from a great water shortage, which led the local government to take urgent actions to avoid water cuts in the city.
In another development within the same context, two weeks ago some terrorists carried out bomb attacks targeting gas pipelines that are linked to Tikrit city (160 kilometers, or 100 miles, north of Baghdad). This led to heavy contamination of the Tigris River, while large patches of oil were visible on the water surface and large fires broke out on the banks of the river from Tikrit to areas near Baghdad.
