According to reports yesterday that ISIS had managed to take over parts of Iraq’s Mosul hydroelectric dam, the nation’s largest such dam. Officials now say Kurdish fighters have managed to repel that attack.
The ISIS fighters continue to press the offensive against both the Mosul Dam and the Haditha Dam down in the Anbar Province. The dams would give ISIS control over water flow on Iraq’s two major rivers, as well as a broad amount of electricity generation.
ISIS has been keen to take over energy supplies in both Iraq and Syria, seizing major oil fields, refineries, and now turning its focus on the hydroelectric dams. Though so far defenses have held in both Mosul and Haditha, the value of those dams means ISIS will keep trying, and that both are in the middle of ISIS-held territory means reinforcements may be tough for defenders to come by.
The bigger concern, perhaps, is what happens if the Mosul dam falls, because it is in the middle of substantial repairs, and assuming ISIS can’t keep up with the repair schedule, the dam could easily fail outright.
Go Kurds!