库尔德武装夺回摩苏尔水坝
Kurdish forces wrested control of Iraq’s strategically important Mosul dam from jihadi insurgents yesterday, after the US launched the most intensive day of air strikes since it began targeted intervention in the conflict 10 days ago. US President Barack Obama hailed the retaking of Iraq's largest dam as a "major step forward," in the fight against Islamist insurgents who have swept through the north of the country.
在美国发起了自10天前开始对伊拉克冲突采取定点干预以来最猛烈的一日空袭后，库尔德武装于昨日从伊斯兰圣战武装分子手中夺回了摩苏尔水坝。美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)将这一事件誉为在打击伊斯兰武装分子方面取得的“重要进展”。摩苏尔水坝是伊拉克最大的水坝，对该国具有战略重要意义。
Although Kurdish peshmerga forces, with the support of US air power and Iraqi military on the ground, were still clearing pockets of resistance by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, local officials said they had retaken the dam in the most significant defeat for Isis so far.
尽管库尔德“自由斗士”(Peshmerga)武装在美国空中力量和地面上的伊拉克政府军的支持下，仍在清理来自“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国”(ISIS)的小股抵抗，但当地官员表示，他们已经取得了迄今对ISIS的最大胜利，重新夺回了水坝。Iraqi and US officials feared that Isis could use the Mosul dam, three decades old and poorly maintained, as a weapon. Whoever controls the dam could cut off power or water to millions of Iraqis. If broken, the dam would destroy the northern city of Mosul and flood the capital, Baghdad.
伊拉克和美国官员曾担心，ISIS可能将这座已有30年历史、维护不善的水坝用作武器。只要控制了水坝，就能切断数百万伊拉克人的供电和供水。如果水坝被炸开，可能摧毁伊拉克北部城市摩苏尔，淹没伊拉克首都巴格达。
President Barack Obama interrupted his holiday yesterday to return to the White House to confer with his national security team on the crisis.
奥巴马昨日中断休假回到白宫，与他的国家安全团队商讨如何应对这一危机。The Pentagon’s central command said it had carried out 15 strikes yesterday on Isis positions surrounding the dam. Some 68 missions have been mounted since August 8.
五角大楼的中央司令部表示，它昨日对水坝周围的ISIS阵地发动了15次打击。自8月8日以来，美军在伊拉克执行的任务已达约68次。The Mosul dam counter-offensive has been important in boosting the morale of the Kurds and the peshmerga, who withdrew in the face of an Isis advance in northern Iraq.
摩苏尔水坝反击战对提升库尔德人和“自由斗士”武装的士气非常重要。面对ISIS在伊拉克北部的挺进，他们曾一度后撤。An aide to a senior Kurdish official said the victory had yet to be officially announced because a few pockets of resistance remained. Earlier in the day, military spokesman Lieutenant-General Qasim Atta also said the dam had been taken.
一名库尔德高级官员的助手表示，官方还未正式宣布胜利，因为仍然存在一些小股抵抗。今天早些时候，军方发言人卡西姆•阿塔中将(Lieutenant-General Qasim Atta)也表示，水坝已被夺回。However, Roj Nuri Shawes, a senior Kurdish official and outgoing deputy prime minister of Iraq, said clearing out and securing the area could take time. “Isis has mined the towns and areas around the dam with explosives, meaning our forces have had to work very carefully to dismantle them.”
然而，库尔德高级官员、伊拉克即将卸任的副总理鲁什•努里•沙维斯(Roj Nuri Shawes)表示，清理这一地区、让其恢复安全可能需要时间。“ISIS在水坝周边的城镇和地区埋放了爆炸物，我们的部队必须非常小心地展开排爆工作。”Isis insisted that reports that the “Kurdish-Crusader alliance” had retaken the dam constituted a fake media campaign.
ISIS坚称，“库尔德十字军联盟”(Kurdish-Crusader alliance)夺回水坝的消息是媒体的虚假宣传。The move came as David Cameron, UK prime minister, said Britain would not deploy “boots on the ground” in Iraq but was prepared to arm Kurdish fighters.
这件事发生的同时，英国首相戴维•卡梅伦(David Cameron)表示英国不会向伊拉克派出“地面部队”，但愿意为库尔德士兵提供武装。
