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Iraq’s Water Resources ‘Down 50 Percent’

This picture taken on April 20, 2022 shows a view of the left bank (eastern) of the Tigris river from the Sinek bridge (unseen) in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
This picture taken on April 20, 2022 shows a view of the left bank (eastern) of the Tigris river from the Sinek bridge (unseen) in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
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Iraq’s Water Resources ‘Down 50 Percent’

This picture taken on April 20, 2022 shows a view of the left bank (eastern) of the Tigris river from the Sinek bridge (unseen) in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
This picture taken on April 20, 2022 shows a view of the left bank (eastern) of the Tigris river from the Sinek bridge (unseen) in Iraq's capital Baghdad during a severe dust storm. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Iraq’s water resources have plunged 50 percent since last year, due to repeated periods of drought, low rainfall and declining river levels, a government official told AFP on Thursday.

Oil-rich Iraq, despite its mighty Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is classified as one of the world’s five countries most vulnerable to climate change and desertification.

“Water reserves are far lower than what we had last year, by about 50 percent because of poor rainfall and the quantities arriving from neighboring countries,” said Aoun Dhiab, a senior adviser at the water resources ministry.

Iraq which shares the Tigris and Euphrates with Turkey and Syria, and other rivers with Iran, has often protested that their upstream construction of dams has endangered its water resources.

Dhiab also pinned the blame on “the successive years of drought: 2020, 2021 and 2022.”

“This serves as a warning on how we must use [water resources] in the summer and next winter. We have to take these factors into account in our planning for the agriculture sector,” said the official, who had only earlier this month voiced confidence in the country’s water reserves.

The shortages and drought already obliged Iraq to halve the areas of cultivated land over the past winter season.

In November, the World Bank warned that Iraq, a country of 41 million people, could suffer a 20-percent decline in drinking water resources by 2050 due to climate change.

The Arab state ravaged by decades of conflict and sanctions needs to invest $180 billion over the next two decades on infrastructure, building dams and irrigation projects, according to the World Bank.

But only $15 million, or less than 0.2 percent, was allocated to the water resources ministry in Iraq’s 2018 budget.

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Arab World

Israeli Army is Setting Up Rapid Response Unit on Border with Syria

Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)
Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)
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Israeli Army is Setting Up Rapid Response Unit on Border with Syria

Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)
Anti-government fighters ride military vehicles in the eastern part of Aleppo province, in Syria, on Sunday. (Aref Tammawi/AFP)

The Israeli military has announced the formation of a special rapid response unit in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to fend off threats from Syria, when necessary.

Commander of the 210th Bashan Division Lieutenant Colonel Yair Palai said the unit would operate as an effective attack force capable to launch in seconds and prevent threats on Israel similar to the one Hamas launched on October 7, 2023.

“The Unit will be prepared 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of events,” he said.

“In the case of any security incident, the Unit will strike the enemy mercilessly. There is no possibility of failure, because this unit depends on constant vigilance,” Palai said.

The unit, which is comprised of elite soldiers from reconnaissance units and special reserve units, will operate under the 210th Division.

Sources said the unit has fully mobilized and operated continuously over the past three months.

Its goal was initially to counter Iranian, Syrian, Yemeni, Iraqi or other militias that might operate from the Golan against Jewish settlements there.

But recent developments in Syria compelled the army to prepare for any additional threats.

Last week, Syrian army soldiers were killed in a major attack by opposition fighters led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, who swept into the city of Aleppo in the northwest, forcing the military to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar Assad in years.

On Tuesday, Haaretz said the Israeli military fears that amid the Syrian opposition assault and their taking over of military sites belonging to the Assad regime in the country, chemical weapons could fall into the wrong hands.

If such weapons fall into the hands of the opposition fighters or Iranian militias, Israel would have to act in a way that “may affect Syria and the entire Middle East,” according to Haaretz.

The report said that after the country's civil war, Assad tried to rebuild his chemical weapons production facilities, with most having been removed from Syria under an international agreement. But a substantial part of the chemical weapons project, particularly the knowledge accumulated over the years, still remains in Assad's hands.

Haaretz wrote that Israel has relayed messages to the Syrian regime via the Russians insisting that Assad assert his sovereignty and bar Iran from operating from within Syria.

“The army is monitoring with concern the surprise Syrian rebel offensive on Assad strongholds in Syria that began last week,” it said.

Also, intelligence officials believe that while the Syrian president's standing has been weakened, Iran, with Russia's support, is exploiting the chaos in order to send in tens of thousands of fighters from the armed militias that support it.

According to Haaretz, the army's current estimate is that there are 40,000 Iranian militia fighters in Syria.

In tandem with the ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been carrying out strikes almost daily on the border between Syria and Lebanon in order to thwart attempts to smuggle weaponry destined for Hezbollah.

Although to date there is no firm evidence that the Iranian forces plan to station themselves in Damascus, the newspaper said one Israeli diplomatic official involved in the discussions referred to this on Sunday as a known fact. “Iran has begun to send an influx of forces into Syria in an attempt to aid Assad and suppress the revolt,” he said.