The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) is seizing several facilities across regions of Syria and Iraq that are critical to public health and safety, potentially endangering hundreds of thousands of civilians, according to reports.
The al Qaeda offshoot has engaged in fierce battles in recent days with Kurdish forces after seizing cities and several small oil fields in northern Iraq. About 200,000 people, many of them members of the minority Kurdish Yezidi sect, have been forced to flee the region, the United Nations said.
There were conflicting reports about whether ISIL had taken control of the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, Iraq’s largest hydroelectric dam. The dam’s director said Monday that Kurdish forces had so far been able to beat back the assault by the jihadists.
