The Islamic State attacks Iraqi security forces and affiliated militiamen stationed around Adhaim dam on the Al Uzym River, north of Baghdad. Accounts differ as to the total number of deaths, however both sides suffer losses of life and numerous fighters are injured.
Following the capture of Ramadi Dam, the Islamic State cuts water for irrigation systems and treatment plants in the predominantly Shiite downstream provinces of Babil, Karbala, Najaf and Qadisiya, threatening Iraqi food production.
The Islamic State attacks and successfully captures Tharthar Dam near Fallujah, on the Tigris River in Anbar province, Iraq. The attack leaves 127 Iraqi soldiers dead. After capturing the dam, the fighters open at least one floodgate, affecting downstream communities.
Turkish soldiers guarding a hydroelectric dam are attacked with rockets and long-range gunfire by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kulp district of Diyarbakir. One soldier is killed and three wounded.
A remotely detonated explosive on a road used for delivering supplies to the Silvan Dam construction site kills one civilian, a child. The bomb is thought to be planted by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and targeted at military vehicles.
The Yemeni Interior Ministry claims up to 4,000 people die annually from water-related violence including raids on wells and other fights over water access involving armed groups. A report from Yemen’s pro-government newspaper estimates that 70-80% of conflicts in rural areas are about water. The UNFAO estimates that about 20 million Yemenis do not have access to drinking water because of the ongoing civil war.
In June 2015, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants shut off and redirect water flows below Ramadi Dam in order to facilitate military movements across the Euphrates River. As a result, communities downstream face water shortages.
Fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, bomb the main pipeline carrying water to the city of Aleppo from the Euphrates River. More than 100 people are sickened by contaminated water.
A plant is destroyed and 14 workers are killed in Yemen in an aerial bombing by a Saudi-led coalition. The Yemeni Defense Ministry claims the facility was a bottled water plant, while the Saudi-led coalition claims the facility was used to make bombs and train African migrants. Human Rights Watch finds no evidence the facility was anything except a bottling plant.
A water project is struck during an air raid in Kitaf Wa Al-Boqe’e District, Saada, Yemen.