The book 'Water and Conflict in the Middle East' edited by Marcus Dubois King (Hurst Publishers) is an essential contribution to our understanding of turbulence in this globally significant region. It includes a contribution by Research Fellow Tobias von Lossow.
This volume explores the role of water in the Middle East's current economic, political and environmental transformations, which are set to continue in the near future. In addition to examining water conflict from within the domestic contexts of Iraq, Yemen and Syria-- all experiencing high levels of instability today--the contributors shed further light on how conflict over water resources has influenced political relations in the region. They interrogate how competition over water resources may precipitate or affect war in the Middle East, and assess whether or how resource vulnerability impacts fragile states and societies in the region and beyond.
In this context, the ‘use of water as a weapon’ or ‘weaponization of water’ has gained new momentum in the recent violent conflicts in the Middle East. One reason is that the so-called Islamic State (IS/ISIS) played an important role as a frontrunner of what turned out to be a ‘broader trend’ of warfare and war-making in the Middle East. With his contribution in the edited volume, Tobias von Lossow analyses the weaponization of water by IS against the broader regional context highlighting ‘lessons learned’ that are relevant for ongoing and future violent conflicts in the region.
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