Mosul Dam at Center of Iraqi Battle
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Social
Dam Is the Subject of a Battle Between the ISIS,Who Seized It This Month from Kurdish Forces
Right now, Mosul Dam is the subject of an intense battle in northern Iraq between the Islamic extremists of ISIS, who seized it earlier this month, and Kurdish forces, who are trying to retake it with the aid of U.S. airstrikes.
The stakes are huge for the millions of Iraqis who live downstream from the dam, the largest in the country.
Water in war
ISIS has a track record of attacking its enemies with water.
Earlier this year, its fighters opened the gates on the Falluja dam in central Iraq after seizing it in an effort to stop an Iraqi military advance. The water from the dam flooded a number of villages.
"ISIS has already used other smaller dams to gain control of territory, to pressure Sunnis to support them and to punish the Shiites," Pipes said this month.
The 3.2-kilometer-long Mosul dam holds back as much as 12.5 million cubic meters of water, according to Engineering News-Record, a construction industry website.
If the structure were to give way, it would unleash a wall of water tens-of-feet tall that would race down the Tigris toward Mosul and its 1.7 million inhabitants. It would also bring flooding to major cities farther downstream, including Baghdad.
"The failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, endanger U.S. personnel and facilities, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and prevent the Iraqi government from providing critical services to the Iraqi populace," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a letter to Congress on Sunday explaining the airstrikes near the dam.
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