Iraqi PM Accuses Turkey of Exploiting Ilisu Dam for Political Purposes

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. (Reuters)
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Iraqi PM Accuses Turkey of Exploiting Ilisu Dam for Political Purposes

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. (Reuters)

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi accused on Tuesday the Turkish government of exploiting the Ilisu dam for political purposes, slamming the timing it chose to fill up the dam.

He explained that Ankara deliberately chose the timing to exploit the issue for “political and electoral purposes.”

Turkey is set to hold snap elections on June 24.

An agreement had been reached between Iraq and Turkey for Ankara to start filling the dam on June 1, but it kicked off operation back on March 1, drawing Baghdad’s anger.

Iraq is currently suffering from a stifling drought and the Ilisu dam on the Tigris River has only compounded the problem.

Addressing criticism that successive Iraqi governments had failed since 2003 to construct dams in the country, Abadi remarked: “We do not need to build dams, because the ones we already have have not been filled to capacity.”

“Once we have a surplus, then we will build new dams.”

Iraq’s water resources minister Hassan al-Janabi informed Asharq Al-Awsat, however, that the “crisis, despite its severity, was still under control because the minimum amount of potable and irrigation water was being provided.”

Concerns have been voiced over next year’s crops.

Abadi stressed that contacts are ongoing with Turkey and Iran over the water shortage and the Tigris issue.

He assured the people that Iraq has sufficient water reserves.

Meanwhile, head of the Sadr movement, Moqtada al-Sadr, made a number of proposals aimed at resolving the water crisis.

Among them was a call for the Foreign Ministry or concerned ministries to convene a meeting for the Iraq basin countries to address the crisis.

Another, he said via his Twitter account, was having the concerned Iraqi ministries form a permanent committee that would be tasked with finding the causes and reaching solutions for water safety problems.



World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

The World Bank has presented a $1 billion program for the reconstruction of Lebanon, the Lebanese prime minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The program would include $250 million as a loan, with the rest of the financing to come from international aid, it added.

The cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war is estimated at $11 billion, the World Bank said in a new report Friday.
The war killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands and caused widespread destruction in the nation.
The report by the World Bank’s Lebanon Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment covered damage and losses in ten sectors across the country from Oct. 8, 2023 until Dec. 20, 2024.
A US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November.