The Associated Press quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Ramzy Mardini on the seizure of Iraq’s largest dam by Islamic militants:
“It’s difficult to imagine that the dam will not be immediately contested — it’s real strategic property,” Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq expert with the Washington-based Atlantic Council, said of Thursday’s Mosul Dam seizure. “With the dam in its control, the Islamic State can use water as a coercive tool in creating dependency or as a deterrent threat hovering in the background. It could potentially flood Baghdad or cut off its supply.”