Turkish-backed groups continue to cut water to thousands in northeast Syria amid COVID-19

Akjemal Magtymova, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Syria, called the water flow cut to Alouk station “a crime.”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Despite reports that Turkish-backed groups would restore water flow at the Alouk facility, which delivers the essential resource to major parts of the northeast Syrian Hasakah province, local sources say supply remains cut.

The Alouk water station is near the border town of Ras al-Ain (Serekaniye), which Turkey and its militant proxies took over in October 2019 during Ankara’s so-called Peace Spring Operation.

Since August 13, Turkish-backed groups have shut water flow from the facility, affecting an estimated 500,000 people in Hasakah city and nearby communities.

On Saturday, reports claimed there was a new Turkish-Russian agreement to resume pumping water to the area.

But Thomas McClure, a Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Center (RIC), told Kurdistan 24 that water flow to Hasakah city remains shut, as it has been for the past ten days. A journalist based in Hasakah city also confirmed McClure’s claim to Kurdistan 24.

“Even prior to this, water flow was very low, with some neighborhoods not having received a drop of water for the past two months and relying slowly on water trucking by AANES (Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) and NGOs,” McClure stated.

Pro-Syrian regime news agency SANA on Sunday said that “the Turkish occupation has not pumped water to the locals.”

McClure told Kurdistan 24 that the critical issue to note is that Turkey, as an occupying power, has the responsibility to provide electricity and water to the areas it occupies.

“Whatever the circumstances, neither AANES nor the Syrian government should be…obliged to provide power to the Peace Spring area,” referring to territories Turkey took over in late 2019.

The researcher also claimed that Turkey is causing electricity shortages in northeast Syria by lowering water levels in the Euphrates River.

Read more: Turkey using water as weapon against administration in northeast Syria

According to McClure, this means that “key hydroelectric facilities like the Tishreen dam are delivering at only 25% of total capacity.”

As a result, there are widespread electricity blackouts. And, Turkey is demanding 70KW of power to be delivered into the areas it controls.

“This is almost the total capacity of Mabrouka power station, which must also deliver power to AANES-controlled regions with many times the population. Turkish propaganda never mentions the fact that the Allouk station is not fed by Tishreen or Mabrouka, but by another smaller power station to the west,” McClure added.

Turkish-backed groups have also been accused of siphoning off electricity before it reaches substations in territories under their and Ankara’s control.

“It’s a complicated situation; but simply put, had Turkey not invaded, none of this would have happened. That water-flow is being switched off is Turkey’s sole responsibility,” he added.

Akjemal Magtymova, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Syria, called the water flow cut to Alouk station “a crime.”

“The water situation in [Hasakah is] reported to be dire,” she told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday. It comes, Magtymova noted, amid “high temperature and COVID-19 mitigation and prevention measures,” when “water needs are increasing” and supply is “crucial.”

“It is not only essential to drink but also for agricultural purposes and sanitation – all the more important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic when keeping hand hygiene is one of the preventative measures for infection prevention and control. More so in the summer conditions in…north-east Syria.”

In a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Saturday, the Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II Karim, called on the EU and the UN to address “this calamity and to provide water and help for the suffering people of [Hasakah] and northeast Syria.”

Editing by Khrush Najari