NOTE: This story was updated Wednesday afternoon.
The turmoil in Iraq already has the world worried about the safety of the country’s mammoth oil fields. Now Iraqis must imagine massive waves of water crashing downriver from the country’s shaky dams, which are smack in the terrorists’ crosshairs.
On Monday, Islamist insurgents in the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, renewed their offensive in Iraq’s Anbar province, moving toward the key hydroelectric dam of Haditha. The dam’s security has concerned U.S. officials for years and protecting the country’s second-biggest dam was a priority objective during the 2003 invasion.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s biggest dam, the Mosul dam, is right next to a hotbed of Islamic State activity and poses catastrophic risk even if the terrorists don’t open the floodgates or blow it up. If the dam fails, scientists say Mosul could be completely flooded within hours and a 15-foot wall of water could crash into Baghdad.
ISIS fighters first moved toward the Haditha Dam, located in western Iraq on the Euphrates River, last week.
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