BAGHDAD -- Islamic State militants have reduced the amount of water flowing to government-held areas in Iraq's western Anbar province, officials said Thursday, a move that puts more pressure on Iraqi forces struggling to regain ground held by the extremists in the Sunni heartland.
The development is not the first time water has been used as a weapon in Mideast conflicts and in Iraq in particular. Earlier this year, the Islamic State reduced the flow through a lock outside the militant-held town of Fallujah, also in Anbar province. But the extremists soon reopened it after criticism from residents.
Last summer, the militants took control of Mosul Dam -- the largest in Iraq -- and threatened to flood Baghdad and other major cities, but Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, later recaptured the facility.
The battle for the dam followed the Islamic State's blitz across much of western and northern Iraq earlier last year, during which the group captured key Anbar cities and Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, which lies to the north of Baghdad.
The Islamic State also gained large areas in neighboring Syria and proclaimed a self-styled caliphate, or state ruled by Islamic law, on the territory it controls.
Last month, the group captured Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, marking its most significant victory since a U.S.-led coalition began an air campaign against it in August.
On Wednesday, the Islamic State closed the locks on a militant-held dam on the Euphrates River near Ramadi, reducing the flow downstream and threatening irrigation systems and water-treatment plants in nearby areas controlled by troops and tribes opposed to the extremist group.
An Anbar councilman, Taha Abdul-Ghani, said the move will not only make the lives of people living in the affected areas more difficult, but it also could pose a threat to the security forces fighting to recapture Ramadi. If water levels drop significantly, he said, the extremists could cross the Euphrates River on foot.
"The militants might take advantage of that and attack troops deployed along the river" and the nearby Habaniya military base, Abdul-Ghani said.
The base has been used as a staging ground for Iraqi troops and allied Shiite militias in the fight against the militants in Ramadi and surrounding areas.
Thousands of people in government-held towns of Khalidiya and Habaniya are already suffering from shortages of drinking water. Purification plants along the Euphrates have all but shut down because of already low water levels from the summer weather. The residents get only two hours a day of water through their pipes, he said.
"With the summer heat and lack of water, the lives of these people are in danger, and some are thinking of leaving their homes," added Abdul-Ghani. He urged the government to use the air force to bomb some of the gates of al-Warar Dam and release the water.
He said there was no effect on Shiite areas in central and southern Iraq, saying water was being diverted to those areas from the Tigris River.
A farmer near Khalidiya said he could lose all his crops because of a lack of irrigation water. Now, the water is lower than the level of his pumps.
"I used to irrigate my crops every three day. If the situation continues like this, my vegetables will die," said the farmer, who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Ahmed, because of fears for his life.
The United Nations said Wednesday that it was looking into reports that the militants 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," said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general. "These kinds of reports are disturbing, to say the least."
He said the U.N. and humanitarian partners will try to "fill in the gaps" to meet water needs for the affected population.
On Thursday, U.N. officials meeting in Brussels to work on an Iraqi aid operation urgently called for $497 million in donations to provide shelter, food, water and other lifesaving services for the next six months to Iraqis displaced or affected by the fighting between government forces and the Islamic State group.
The needs of Iraqis affected by the fighting are huge and growing, the officials said, with more than 8 million people requiring immediate support, and potentially 10 million by the end of 2015.
"While we search for solutions to end the violence, we must do everything in our power to help," said Kyung-Wha Kang, U.N. assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, also in Brussels. "The people of Iraq need our help, now."
Information for this article was contributed by Sinan Salaheddin and John-Thor Dahlberg of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/05/2015