iraq south marshesREUTERS/Atef HassanAn Iraqi border police boat patrols in the marshes near the Iranian border in southeastern Iraq October 4, 2011.

In the 1990s, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein drained the marshes of southern Iraq in order to punish the indigenous Shi'ite tribes that opposed him after the first Gulf War.

The desiccation of the marshes destroyed wildlife and the livelihoods of the local people who herded water buffalo there.

In 2003, the marshes were re-flooded and and many local buffalo breeders returned to the area.
But now, dozens of the buffalo herders are leaving again.

Areas of marshlands in the Al-Chibayish district of Dhi Qar Province are once again being deliberately dried out, according to pan-Arab daily Asharq Alawsat.

But while in the 1990s, Saddam was responsible for creating an environmental disaster in the marshes, the culprit this time is Islamic State (IS), which has cut off water supplies to the area after capturing dams along the Euphrates River to the north.

"History is repeating itself all over again," Sheikh Muhammad al-Asadi, an elder from the marshes, told Asharq Alawsat on June 19.

It is as if IS has the same mentality as Saddam, Asadi added.

Water Crisis

buffaloes water iraq REUTERS/Alaa Al-MarjaniTwo buffaloes gather by the waters of the Chebayesh marsh in Nassiriya, southeast of Baghdad, February 11, 2015. Picture taken February 11, 2015.

Water security in Iraq was a serious issue for many years before the advent of IS.