ISIS as an Actor Controlling Water Resources in Syria and Iraq

Abstract

This chapter analyzes how the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has used water resources as a tool to achieve political and economic objectives and as a weapon of war during the civil war in Syria and the crisis in Iraq. It is argued that, as the region’s strongest violent non-state actor (VNSA), ISIS has deliberately and continuously instrumentalized water resources and water systems, particularly large dams and water supply facilities, in these countries for two main goals: accomplishing the political and economic objectives of its self-proclaimed state by instrumentalizing water as a way to gain political legitimacy and manage it for agricultural production and using water as an offensive and defensive weapon of war. Other belligerent parties have also resorted to the weaponization of water, which has worsened the situation, especially regarding humanitarian conditions.