ISIS claims gains, takes control of Iraq’s largest hydroelectric dam


Mosul-Dam-In-Operation-SIGIR
 Fighters with the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria reached the triangle border between Iraq, Syria and Turkey, it said in a message posted on Twitter on Sunday.
ISIS took control of Iraq’s largest hydroelectric dam on Iraq’s Tigris River, which provides power to the city of Mosul about 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the south, the commander of the Peshmerga Kurdish fighters who had been defending the facility said Sunday.
The dam workers remained inside the facility, which fell after a 24-hour battle, Lt. Col. Herash said.
Daniel Pipes, the president of the Middle East Forum, said, “If you control the Mosul Dam, you can threaten just about everybody,” Pipes told CNN’s Jonathan Mann.
Pipes said the militant group now has the potential to create a flood so massive and catastrophic that it would not only cause death, destruction and chaos locally in the city of Mosul, but more than 450 kilometers (280 miles) away in Baghdad as well.
“It’s a horrendous prospect,” he said.
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