Conflicts over water resources in the Middle East

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of tensions over the exploitation of water on the emergence of internal and international conflicts in the Middle East. The deficit of this resource and the unilateral actions of states in water resources management are one of the main causes of the conflict between the countries in the Tigris and Euphrates basins and the Jordan River Basin. Conflicts over water can be interstate, between countries that share a river basin, and intrastate, between different groups or users. In the Middle East there is a special type of conflicts between non-state actors that confront several states simultaneously, and they use water as a significant weapon in a conflict. Thus, water conditions the transformation of conflicts in this area, since it represents one of the objectives of a conflict, and also the used means at the same time. .

Keywords

• conflicts
• water resources
• middle east
• 'islamic state'