FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2015
Majority of boat
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Bangladeshi
Turkish ‘Mr
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Erdogan
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Propaganda
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ANBAR: Fighters from the Badr Brigades Shiite militia clash with Islamic State militant group at the front line, on the outskirts of Fallujah. —AP
IS reduces water supply in Anbar
Water being used as weapon of war
BAGHDAD: Islamic State militants have
reduced the amount of water flowing to government-held areas in Iraq’s western Anbar
province, an official said yesterday, 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 that water
has been used as a weapon of war in Mideast
conflicts and in Iraq in particular. Earlier this
year, the Islamic State group reduced the flow
through another lock outside the militant-held
town of Fallujah, also in Anbar province. But the
extremists soon reopened it after criticism from
residents.
The IS captured Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, last month, marking its most significant victory since a US-led coalition began an
air campaign against the extremists last August.
Earlier last year, the Islamic State had blitzed
across much of western and northern Iraq, capturing key Anbar cities and also Mosul, Iraq’s
second-largest city that lies to the north of
Baghdad.
Life -saving services
Also yesterday, UN officials urgently called
for $497 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 the Islamic State group. 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, provincial council member
Taha Abdul-Ghani told The Associated Press.
Abdul-Ghani said there would be no immediate effect on Shiite areas in central and southern Iraq, saying water is being diverted to those
areas from the Tigris River. The United Nations
had said on Wednesday that it was looking into
reports that IS 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,” the spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters.
“These kinds of reports are disturbing, to say
the least.” He said the UN and humanitarian
partners will try to “fill in the gaps” to meet
water needs for the affected population.
Immediate support
In Brussels, UN officials said yesterday that
the needs of Iraqis affected by the fighting are
huge and growing, with more than 8 million
people requiring 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,”
Grande told members of the European
Parliament, according to a UN news release.
The consequences of such a reduction in aid,
Grande said, would be “catastrophic.”
At a one-day conference in Paris this week,
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi had
pressed his case for more support from the 25
countries in the US-led coalition fighting the
militant group, asking for more armament and
ammunition. “We’re relying on ourselves, but
fighting is very hard this way,” al-Abadi said
before the conference Tuesday. 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 US-supplied tanks and weapons. —AP