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ISIS Fighters Advance Toward Large Iraqi Dam ISIS Fighters Approach Haditha Dam, North of Baghdad
(about 3 hours later)
BAGHDAD — Iraqi security officials said Wednesday that fighters for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were advancing on the Haditha Dam, the second-largest in Iraq. BAGHDAD — Iraqi security officials said Wednesday that fighters with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were advancing on the Haditha Dam, the second-largest in Iraq, raising the possibility of catastrophic damage and flooding.
The militants are coming from the north, the northeast and the northwest. The ISIS fighters had already reached the nearby town of Burwana, on the eastern side of Haditha, and government forces were fighting to halt their advance. Worries about the dam came as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki appeared to reject entreaties by Western leaders, including a personal visit by Secretary of State John Kerry, to help defuse the crisis by forming a new government with more equitable power-sharing among rival groups.
Worried that the insurgents would reach the dam on the Euphrates River, about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad, army officers told employees to stay inside and to be prepared to open the dam’s floodgates if ordered to do so, an employee said. The ISIS militants advancing on the dam on the Euphrates River, about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad, were coming from the north, the northeast and the northwest. The fighters had already reached Burwana, on the eastern side of Haditha, and government forces were fighting to halt their advance, security officials said.
“This will lead to the flooding of the town and villages and will harm you also,” the dam employee said he told the army officer. Alarmed that the insurgents would reach the dam, army officers told employees to stay inside and to be prepared to open the dam’s floodgates if ordered to do so, one employee said.
According to the employee, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, the officer replied: “Yes, I know, it will be against us and our enemies.” “This will lead to the flooding of the town and villages and will harm you also,” the employee said he told the army officer.
This would not be the first time that the Iraqi government and ISIS have engaged in dam warfare. Earlier this year, when ISIS fighters seized the Falluja Dam, they opened it to flood fields of crops all the way south to the city of Najaf. The water at one point washed east as well, almost reaching Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad. According to the employee, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, the officer replied: “Yes, I know, it will be against us and our enemies.”
The closure of the dam also starved areas downstream in the provinces of Najaf and Diwaniya of water needed for crops. The dam was reopened after several weeks. This would not be the first time that the Iraqi government and ISIS have engaged in dam warfare. In April, when ISIS fighters seized the Falluja Dam, they opened it, flooding fields of crops all the way south to the city of Najaf. The water at one point washed east as well, almost reaching Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad.
Separately on Wednesday, Mr. Maliki rejected calls for a caretaker government, as he has before, but it appeared to be a repudiation of the Western leaders who have asked him to agree to share power with Iraq’s Sunnis and Kurds. The opening of the floodgates also starved areas downstream in the provinces of Najaf and Diwaniya of water needed for crops. The floodgates were closed after several weeks.
In a televised address, he criticized “other parties,” a reference to Sunnis and Kurds, for not doing more to support the government, and he rejected the idea of a caretaker government, which could be formed without his participation. The Haditha Dam is second in size in the country to the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, about 45 miles north of Mosul, the Nineveh provincial capital that ISIS militants seized two weeks ago.
In Baghdad, Mr. Maliki again said he would not form a caretaker government, but the timing and tone of his remarks appeared to be a repudiation of the pleas by Western leaders who have asked Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, to agree to share power with Iraq’s Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurds.
Mr. Maliki’s rejection came a day after Mr. Kerry made an emergency visit to Iraq as part of efforts to persuade the country’s political leaders to overcome their differences.
In a televised address, Mr. Maliki criticized “other parties,” a reference to Sunnis and Kurds, for not doing more to support the government, and said the idea of a caretaker government, which could be formed without his participation, was not acceptable.
“Despite what we are suffering through, we haven’t heard from our political partners with any support,” Mr. Maliki said. “They are not partners in facing the crisis but they are partners in spending the wealth of Iraq.”“Despite what we are suffering through, we haven’t heard from our political partners with any support,” Mr. Maliki said. “They are not partners in facing the crisis but they are partners in spending the wealth of Iraq.”
He also severely criticized remarks that the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani, made in a meeting Tuesday with Mr. Kerry. The Kurdish leader had suggested that gains by the ISIS militants had changed the political landscape.He also severely criticized remarks that the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani, made in a meeting Tuesday with Mr. Kerry. The Kurdish leader had suggested that gains by the ISIS militants had changed the political landscape.
“Whoever is talking about Iraq before Nineveh and Iraq after Nineveh, it’s against the Constitution, it’s a way of taking advantage of what’s happening in the country, of using terrorist attacks to get political benefits,” said Mr. Maliki. Nineveh is the province that includes Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which was seized by ISIS militants earlier this month; after the city fell on June 10, Kurdish forces took control of the divided city of Kirkuk as the Iraqi Army fled. “Whoever is talking about Iraq before Nineveh, and Iraq after Nineveh, it’s against the constitution, it’s a way of taking advantage of what’s happening in the country, of using terrorist attacks to get political benefits,” Mr. Maliki said.
After ISIS militants seized Mosul on June 10, Kurdish militia forces took control of the divided city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds regard as theirs.
The United Nations envoy in Iraq, Nikolay E. Mladenov, said Wednesday that ISIS would have to be confronted militarily but that no peace could come without the Maliki government’s commitment to create a new inclusive government.
“You obviously need a security operation to deal with the security threat,” Mr. Mladenov said at a news briefing at the United Nations by video teleconference from Baghdad. “The situation is grave. But Iraq can be saved. The country can be brought together if political leaders understand this is no longer business as usual.”
Mr. Mladenov urged the Maliki government to stick to what he called the “constitutional timetable,” referring to a requirement that the formation of a new government from the April elections start by July.
He declined to comment specifically on whether Mr. Maliki, a polarizing figure who has been the prime minister since 2007, should step aside, saying only that Iraqis could determine their next leaders.
“What I do know however is that the next government needs to include representatives of all of Iraq’s communities,” Mr. Mladenov said.
While he asserted that Baghdad was relatively secure from a Sunni militant assault, Mr. Mladenov expressed worry about a possible sectarian war if ISIS forces attacked Samarra, a city 70 miles north of Baghdad that is a Unesco world heritage site and home to some of Shiite Islam’s most sacred sites.
Mr. Mladenov said at least 1,300 people had been killed in the country since June 5, and that the ranks of the displaced had grown to one million, about half of them chased from their homes by the ISIS seizure of Mosul.
Asked about unconfirmed reports that Syria, which is also battling ISIS militants, had bombed Sunni militant targets in western Iraq Mr. Mladenov said he could only confirm that it was not an Iraqi jet that carried out the strikes.
The State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement that American officials were aware of the reported Syrian airstrikes and had “no reason to dispute these reports,” but referred any further inquiries to the Iraqi government.
Neither the Iraqi or Syrian governments have commented on the reports.