– Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods offered sanctuary to up to 200,000 Kurds, minorities and Arabs, primarily Internally Displaced People (IDPs)

– Neighborhoods faced over a decade of deadly assaults and economic embargo from Islamist opposition factions and Assad regime, policies continued by the new Syrian government

– New assault by the Syrian Transitional Government (STG) comes after repeated violations of 2025 ceasefire agreement aimed at protecting the neighborhoods

– Scores killed and injured and tens of thousands displaced as hospital targeted by STG

– STG assault imperils ongoing negotiations with Kurdish-led Autonomous Democratic Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), raising spectre of renewed civil war

Introduction

Two Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo are facing an armed assault by the forces of the Syrian Transitional Government (STG) aimed at seizing control of the neighborhoods. The STG and Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) had reached a March 2025 ceasefire agreement covering the isolated Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods, but the subsequent nine months have been marked by escalating tensions culminating in the January 6 assault. 

These neighborhoods had maintained their autonomy from both the Assad government and Islamist opposition factions since the start of the Syrian Civil War, becoming a safe haven for those fleeing violence, persecution and violent repression elsewhere in Aleppo and Syria. However, they have faced ongoing economic, humanitarian and military pressure from both Assad’s forces and the new authorities in Damascus. In this explainer, Rojava Information Center (RIC) provides key information on these isolated neighborhoods, their humanitarian and political significance, the ongoing attacks they have endured over the past decade, and the grave threats they now face.

What and where are Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh?

With a population of only around 10,000 prior to the 2011 outbreak of the Syrian revolution, these Kurdish-majority neighborhoods within Syria’s diverse second-largest city Aleppo soon swelled. While majority-Kurdish, members of the region’s Christian minorities and Arab families displaced by the war have also found a safe haven in these neighborhoods. Different sources estimate the population in these neighborhoods between 100,000 and 200,000 people.  

“At first, the people who arrived had nothing, so an organization for helping the displaced people was built up. Many houses were empty because the Islamist militias had damaged them, or they had been burnt and looted. The organization found homes for those who did not have any money. Families moved into houses that had been abandoned but were still habitable and just needed to be repaired and refurbished. Organizations like the Kurdish Red Crescent also took care of the displaced and distributed blankets and clothes.” – Sheikh Maqsoud Council member.

What was the situation in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh prior to Assad’s fall?

In 2011 Aleppo became one of the centres of the Syrian revolution and saw some of the heaviest fighting of the civil war. Strong local assemblies and communes resisted influence from ISIS and Jabbat al-Nusra. Armed resistance pushed out Assad from eastern Aleppo and the northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh which fell under the protection of the Kurdish People’s Defense Forces (YPG). These neighborhoods were among the first Kurdish regions to rise up against the Assad government, and subsequently endured successive attacks, embargoes and sieges by both Islamist armed groups and pro-Assad forces.

In 2016, Amnesty International described indiscriminate shelling of Sheikh Maqsoud by Islamist groups including Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam as amounting to war crimes. The rights watchdog documented the death of at least 83 civilians, including 30 children, in attacks which Amnesty reported may have involved the use of chlorine, a banned chemical weapon.

By 2016 Assad had regained control over the whole city, with the sole exception of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh, which have remained under the political administration of what is now the multi-ethnic Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). By early 2017, a Turkish invasion targeting the Kurdish-led, multi-ethnic autonomous region had isolated Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh from the contiguous regions under the control of the DAANES. Since then the neighborhoods have governed themselves autonomously while retaining close political and humanitarian ties to the DAANES.

Electricity and water was allowed to enter the districts, while there was also coordination for education provision. This enabled the neighborhood administration to continue building a network of district-level communes and implementing its stated goals of women’s autonomy and ethnic minority participation, retaining political autonomy despite the close presence of hostile forces. 

Following Assad’s recapture of Aleppo, the Kurdish neighborhoods were at times placed under siege by the Assad government preventing the entry of fuel and other essential supplies to exert political pressure on DAANES. These measures led to critical fuel and medicine shortages and worsening humanitarian conditions in the neighborhoods.

What has happened in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh since Assad’s fall?

On November 29, 2024, HTS and Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) groups entered Aleppo on the third day of the offensive that toppled the Assad government. Fighting between the former Turkish-backed SNA factions folded into the new Syrian military and the DAANES’ Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) in early 2025 led to two agreements:

The first, known as the March 10 agreement and signed between the SDF and the new Syrian Transitional Government (STG) led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, offered a roadmap for North and East Syria (NES) to integrate into the new Syrian political and military system by the end of 2025. However, negotiations have failed to progress. A second agreement was reached in early April, attempting to bring an end to clashes around the perimeter of the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods were broadly demilitarised, with SDF fighters withdrawing and taking heavy weaponry with them. As per the terms of the agreement, the DAANES’ Asayish (Internal Security Forces) remained to police the neighborhoods with light weapons.

What violence have Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh faced this year?

Despite Assad’s demise, the new Syrian authorities have continued a similar approach of exerting humanitarian and economic pressure on the neighborhoods as a political tool. Residents of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh have faced intermittent embargos with access to electricity, water, fuel, food and free movement to and from the neighborhood cut off periodically since July when fuel access was cut off for 14 days. 

This approach escalated from late September onwards, when STG forces began constructing earth barriers at checkpoints into the neighborhoods. On October 6 all access to Sheikh Maqsoud was cut off leading to protests by residents and eventually fighting between the Asayish and STG forces, after the latter opened fire on protestors and attempted to enter the neighborhood. 

On December 22, fighting once again broke out between STG forces and Asayish. Hevin Suliman, Co-Chair of the Sheikh Maqsoud Council, told RIC at the time: “This did not come from nowhere. It is connected to the visit of the Turkish delegation to Damascus, led by Hakan Fidan. These factions, though officially under the Syrian Ministry of Defense (MoD), take direct orders from Turkey. The Turkish state has significant influence over Aleppo and controls these factions.”

Meanwhile, bouts of government-led violence against minorities elsewhere in Syria saw over 1500 members of the Alawite minority killed by the STG’s forces in March 2025, and over 1000 members of the Druze minority similarly killed in July 2025. These attacks underscored the risks faced by Kurds and other minorities living in the isolated neighborhoods, particularly following the SDF’s withdrawal as per the ceasefire agreement, with DAANES officials warning that similar violence against their own populations could follow.

What is the current situation in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh?

In January 2026, the latest small-scale skirmishes between the STG and Asayish that have happened for several months beforehand were taken as the pretext for the STG to launch a full-scale assault aimed at seizing control of the neighborhoods. More broadly, the operation came after a sudden breakdown in talks aimed at implementing the March 10 agreement between SDF and the STG, again reportedly as a result of Turkish pressure demanding an end to the negotiations.

The inciting incident occurred on the Deir Hafer front on January 5, 50 kilometers (40 miles) from Aleppo. The STG alleged an SDF drone hit a military police vehicle which the SDF denied. On January 5, Sheikh Maqsoud Asayish reported drone attacks from government forces killed one civilian and injured two others, leading to a rapid escalation. 

Artillery bombardment rapidly escalated into a ground assault, and the neighborhoods are currently in their fifth day of siege and heavy fighting. Since then, Aleppo has seen heavy fighting on the ground as STG forces repeatedly attempted to enter the neighborhoods using tanks and armoured vehicles. Internationally sanctioned groups, formerly part of the Turkish-backed SNA, Hamzat, al-Amshat, Sultan Murad, and Nour al-Din al-Zenki – integrated into the new Syrian Army’s 76th, 62nd, 72nd, and 80th divisions – are reported to be involved in the attacks.

The government has repeatedly shelled or attacked the neighborhoods with drones, destroying or damaging over 300 homes and hitting the only operating hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud several times, leaving the Martyr Khaled Fajr hospital without power since January 8. 13 civilians have been killed and more than 64 are injured, numbers expected to rise significantly in the coming days as more casualties are reported.

Ashrafiyeh has seen particularly heavy fighting as STG forces have repeatedly entered the neighborhood and seized some territory. One person in Ashrafiyeh told RIC, “I was inside a house with some of my cousins when three armed men pointed their guns at us. They were speaking Turkish and took any money and valuables they could find. Many of the fighters who entered the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood were speaking Turkish.”

Each day, the STG forces have opened crossings to allow civilians to leave, and it is estimated that tens of thousands have fled. This includes Kurdish IDPs from Turkish-occupied Afrin who are attempting to return to the nearby region, despite the risks of returning to areas controlled by former SNA factions that have spent years committing violations against civilians with impunity. 

“We left because of the constant bombing and shelling, fearing for our children. We can’t judge whether it’s safe to return or not,” one source told RIC. “We have mixed feelings, between fear and disappointment. We are not returning to Afrin because it is safe, but rather to escape death and stay alive.”

Yesterday, ambulances from the Kurdish Red Crescent attempting to cross from DAANES-held territory to the neighborhoods to retrieve the wounded and bring them to DAANES hospitals have been denied access. The Kurdish Red Crescent have put out an urgent call asking for donations and humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, preparations were made for a convoy of civilians to make their way towards Aleppo, mirroring the actions taken last year at Tishreen Dam. Today, a convoy of hundreds of cars from Kobani, Qamislo, Raqqa and cities across NES made their way to the Deir Hafer crossing in a bid to cross and reach Aleppo.

Conclusion: An End to Co-Existence?

At the time of writing, fighting continues in some areas of Sheikh Maqsoud. The STG has announced full control of the neighbourhoods, a claim strongly denied by the Asayish. The future is unclear for both the civilians who remain in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh and those displaced from their homes by the military operation.

A continued ceasefire and gradual development of stronger intra-communal links with the rest of Aleppo could have offered a blueprint for safe, secure, practically-realisable integration between Syria’s two remaining power blocs in the DAANES and STG. But with the STG seemingly able to use force to seize control of the neighborhoods amid muted international reaction rather than a negotiated settlement, it is unclear how negotiations over NES’ integration are supposed to progress. Rather, the STG’s assault on Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh has pushed Syria a step further down the path toward a renewed civil war.

The urgent need for electrical energy increases with the onset of winter, at a time when the North and East Syria region is suffering from continuous targeting by the Turkish state of this vital sector. This includes repeated attacks on power generation stations and the continued withholding of Euphrates River water, leading to a near-total paralysis of dam power plants, which are considered the most important source of electricity in the region.

In this context, Imad Obeid, member of the General Administration of Dams in North and East Syria, explained that the Euphrates River is witnessing an unprecedented drop in water levels due to the decline in water inflows from the Turkish side. The water level of Lake Euphrates has fallen from 302 meters above sea level to less than 295 meters, meaning a loss of more than seven meters in the lake’s level.

He noted that the current water inflow of the Euphrates River from the Turkish side is 250 cubic meters per second, while the 1987 agreement signed between Syria, Iraq, and Turkey stipulates the release of 500 cubic meters per second, to be shared between Syria and Iraq at 42 percent and 58 percent respectively.

 However, Turkey is not adhering to this agreement and has reduced the amount by half since the beginning of 2025. This has led to the depletion of water resources between drinking water, agriculture, and evaporation, and to reliance on the strategic reserves of Lake Euphrates for electricity generation.

Dams Are the Main Sources

Obeid pointed out that this decline has negatively affected electricity generation at the Euphrates River dams—Tishreen Dam, Euphrates Dam, and Qadiran Dam (formerly al-Hurriya)—which form the backbone of electricity production in North and East Syria.

The maximum production capacity of Tishreen Dam is 630 megawatt-hours, but current production does not exceed 50 megawatt-hours due to reduced water inflows. The Euphrates Dam has a maximum capacity of 880 megawatt-hours, while its current production does not exceed 60 megawatt-hours because of the low lake level and limited inflows.

As for Qadiran Dam (formerly al-Hurriya), its maximum production capacity is 90 megawatt-hours, while current production does not exceed 15 megawatt-hours.

Obeid confirmed that the decline in electricity generation at the three dams is directly linked to reduced water inflows from the Turkish side. The Euphrates Dam contains eight turbines, Tishreen Dam six turbines, and Qadiran Dam three turbines. Under normal Euphrates River levels, total production reaches about 1,600 megawatt-hours, but it has now dropped to only 125 megawatt-hours due to the declining water level.

Lack of International Grid Connection

Obeid added that before the events in Syria, the dams were connected to an international electricity grid that included Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon. Currently, this connection is suspended, and only an internal link with the Syrian grid remains. These transmission lines are not ready due to damage sustained during years of war, depriving the region of the opportunity to be supplied with electricity and achieve grid stability.

He noted that dam generation units operate around the clock, and the produced electricity is distributed across various areas of the North and East Syria .

He pointed to an important technical issue, noting that the electricity generation units in the dams are of the vertical Kaplan turbine type. This requires a minimum water head of no less than 40 meters at the Euphrates Dam in order to generate electricity. The head is measured by the difference between the water level upstream and downstream of the dam. As for Tishreen Dam, its turbines require a minimum head of 5 meters, while Qadiran Dam requires 9 meters. Any drop below these levels leads to a halt in electricity production, even if water quantities are available.

Marginalization of Infrastructure

For his part, the Co-Chair of the Energy Authority in North and East Syria, Ziad Rustam, explained that power generation sources in the region were almost nonexistent, as the area had been strategically marginalized, particularly in the energy sector. Out of 14 thermal and gas power plants in Syria, there is only one thermal plant in the Jazira, located in al-Suweidiya, which at its best produced 125 megawatt-hours.

Rustam clarified that the sole plant in al-Suweidiya, due to its age, poor technical condition, and exposure to Turkish warplane strikes two years ago, has become a power plant in name only. Its current production does not exceed 10 megawatts, which is extremely small compared to the Jazira Canton’s needs, which exceed 600 megawatts—meaning it covers no more than 1–2 percent of demand.

He added that the second plant is the Jibsa plant, a small facility established by the Autonomous Democratic Administration in the Jazira region in 2019. It includes three gas turbines, each with a nominal capacity of 10 megawatts. However, actual capacity does not exceed 6 megawatts per turbine, with total production ranging between 12 and 15 megawatts at best. This amount is insufficient even to meet the essential needs for oil production or vital services such as drinking water, mills, hospitals, and healthcare facilities.

Consumption Levels and Possible Solutions

Rustam stated that total electricity generation in North and East Syria—from hydroelectric and gas plants—does not exceed 100 megawatts, while demand across this vast geography exceeds 1,300 megawatts. This means production covers only about 10 percent of actual needs.

He pointed out that current conditions, in addition to the long-standing blockade and the lack of political agreements or official recognition of the Autonomous Administration, have prevented the signing of official contracts with international companies to build new power plants or rehabilitate existing ones. This is compounded by financial and banking complications related to money transfers.

He also noted that ongoing daily Turkish threats discourage any company from investing, due to fears of shelling or systematic sabotage.

Rustam emphasized that energy authorities across the regions are currently focusing on preserving existing dams and gas plants, protecting transmission and generation stations, preventing further deterioration, and ensuring the minimum supply of electricity for vital needs such as drinking water, mills, healthcare facilities, and essential infrastructure that cannot be dispensed with.

Meters Help Ease the Crisis

Ziad Rustam also pointed out that among the measures taken is a project to install electronic electricity meters—prepaid or postpaid—to curb random consumption and rationalize the use of available electricity.

He explained that this project has been ongoing for three years, starting as a pilot in the town of al-Jarniyah, then expanding to cover 70–80 percent of the Tabqa Canton.

He added that it also includes the Euphrates canton in Kobani and its countryside at a rate of 50 percent, as well as areas in Raqqa and the Jazira at varying levels.

In the Jazira Canton, however, coverage does not exceed 10 percent and is limited to some connected villages and specific points in the city of Derik (al-Malikiyah), in addition to certain facilities and hospitals supplied through service lines in Qamishli and Hasaka.

He noted that such projects require further development, pointing out that work is underway to launch the project in Deir ez-Zor during the coming year. He stressed that development is ongoing, both in terms of the quality of meters and methods of billing and payment, as well as transitioning to electronic systems via smartphones.

Rustam pointed out that the fundamental solution lies in building new power generation plants, a matter that is linked to political, security, and economic understandings between North and East Syria and the central state in Damascus. If such consensus is achieved, the door could be opened to investors, and the import of turbines and spare parts could be secured without being targeted.

He noted that the region possesses the raw materials needed to produce energy, such as oil and gas. However, gas turbines are manufactured by a very limited number of global companies—no more than ten—requiring official political, security, and financial guarantees to engage with them.

Coordination Without Exchange

Rustam, also addressed the issue of coordination between the Energy Authority in North and East Syria and the Energy Authority of the Syrian transitional government. He explained that technical communication is ongoing, as the Syrian electricity grid is looped and interconnected. However, there is no exchange of electricity due to the lack of surplus on either side.

He added that the existing interconnection is limited to maintaining voltage stability and protecting internal networks, in addition to coordination to preserve stable water levels for drinking water and irrigation from the reservoirs of the Euphrates Dam and Tishreen Dam.

According to the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the North and East Syria Region, the total amount of electricity generated during the first half of 2025 reached 715.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh).

The electricity output was distributed as follows: Euphrates Dam: 537,520,000 kWh, Al-Hurriya Dam: 106,616,000 kWh, and Tishrin Dam: 71,400,000 kWh. 

Administrator Imad Obeid stated that the Euphrates Dam’s upstream water level dropped from 301.34 meters at the beginning of the year to 297.35 meters by mid-June, with an average water inflow of 329 m³/s and an average irrigation discharge of 53.71 m³/s.

Technical operations included extensive maintenance of electromechanical equipment, testing of heat exchangers, replacement of current transformers, rehabilitation of ventilation networks and power feed transformers. Additionally, continuous efforts are underway to rescue the Tishrin Dam, which went out of service earlier this year due to military activities. Work is ongoing to restore its operations and repair its damaged infrastructure and equipment.

The drastic drop in the water level in the Tishrin Dam has triggered an acute crisis in northern and eastern Syria. According to experts, the structure is only one meter away from complete collapse—with far-reaching consequences for electricity supply, agriculture, the environment, and public health.

Imad Ubeyd, a senior administrator of the Dam Authority of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), warned that the situation has reached a critical threshold. Water shortages threaten the entire supply infrastructure of the region – from electricity to drinking water. Power outages are already frequent, while stagnant water increases the risk of waterborne diseases.

International agreements not honored

The autonomous authorities cite insufficient water supplies from Turkey as the main cause. Under a bilateral agreement dating from 1987, Ankara is obliged to supply at least 500 cubic meters of water per second to Syria via the Euphrates. According to Ubeyd, however, only around 250 cubic meters per second are currently reaching Syria – half the agreed amount.

In addition, the Tishrin Dam has been severely damaged by military attacks by the Turkish army and its jihadist proxy forces, the SNA, in the region. As a result, the supply situation has deteriorated dramatically. The drop in the water level has already led to the loss of around four billion cubic meters of actively usable water volume—out of a total capacity of 14 billion cubic meters.

The current level is about six meters below the maximum, which is 304 meters above sea level. According to experts, if the water level drops by just one more meter, the dam could lose its function completely—a scenario that would bring electricity production to an abrupt halt.

Emergency measures in place – electricity rationing already a reality

In view of the precarious situation, the local government has taken measures to reduce energy consumption. Electricity is currently being distributed at intervals: public institutions receive electricity from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., while private households are only supplied from 2 p.m. onwards.

Of the 250 cubic meters of water per second that currently reach the lake, a significant portion cannot be used effectively. According to Ubeyd, around 80 cubic meters are lost through evaporation. Another 70 cubic meters are extracted via two turbines for drinking water and agricultural supply to the city of Aleppo. In addition, around 80 cubic meters flow into an important irrigation canal every day and over 350 cubic meters continue on toward Iraq.

One month after the fall of the Assad regime and the takeover of the government by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), Syria is standing at a crossroads. The fall of the Assad regime was celebrated in Syria and all over the world, but doubts remain over whether the new regime will be more progressive, with many pointing to the fact that HTS is a successor to the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, which is known for its crimes and violence against women and minorities.

The decision by the new interim government to remove Queen Zenobia’s name from the country’s national curriculum has exacerbated the concerns of many women in Syria, who feel the role and importance of women in the history of Syria will be made invisible and that the violence and oppression against them will continue.

Medya News conducted an exclusive interview with Khoud Al-Issa, spokesperson of the Zenobia Women’s Gathering, which is an independent women’s organisation working in Raqqa, Manbij (Minbîc), Tabqa (Tebqa), Deir ez-Zor (Dêrazor) and other areas liberated from ISIS in North and East Syria. The organisation is named after Queen Zenobia, the third-century ruler of the Palmyrene Empire, which Al-Issa describes as a “model for Syrian women who are able to achieve the impossible and lead their society towards progress and prosperity.”

Khoud Al-Issa highlighted that in today’s context, Zenobia’s legacy “challenges stereotypes that try to limit the role of women, and encourages women to claim their rights and actively participate in building Syria’s future.” Outlining the current situation of women in Syria, she explained that women are “greatly affected by the ongoing wars and conflicts”, as they are exposed to “physical and sexual violence, forced displacement, loss of loved ones, extreme poverty, and denial of education and healthcare,” while also caring for their families under these difficult circumstances.

The Zenobia Women’s Gathering has also faced immense challenges since the escalation of the war in Syria. Recently, three of its members—Qamar al-Sud, Aisha Abdul Qader and a woman known only as Iman were killed in Turkish-led attacks on the town of Manbij. Karam Ehmed Al-Shehab Al-Hemed was killed in a Turkish drone strike targeting a civilian car convoy en route to a demonstration at the Tishreen Dam [on 10 January, 2025]. Their martyrdom highlights the sacrifices women continue to make in the region, both for their rights and for the preservation of their legacy.

Enjoy reading the full interview, originally conducted in Arabic, translated and slightly edited by Medya News:

Can you introduce your organisation and its main activities?

We are Zenobia Women’s Gathering, an independent women’s organisation working in Raqqa, Manbij, Tabqa, Deir ez-Zor and other areas liberated from ISIS. Our main goal is to empower Syrian women in all aspects of life, whether social, economic or political. We believe that women are the foundation of society and an active element in building the future of Syria.

Our main activities include:

• Awareness and education programmes: We provide workshops and trainings on women’s rights, reproductive health, gender equality, combating gender-based violence, and other important topics.
• Psychosocial Support: We provide psychosocial support services for women affected by war and conflict, including individual and group support sessions.
• Economic Empowerment: We offer vocational training programmes and microenterprise projects to help women gain new skills and become economically self-reliant.
• Advocacy: We work to raise women’s voices and advocate for their causes in local and international forums, and seek to change discriminatory laws and practices against women.
• Cultural Activities: We organise cultural and artistic events aimed at enhancing the role of women in society and highlighting their historical and cultural contributions.

Why did you decide to name your organisation Zenobia?

We chose the name Zenobia in honour of Queen Zenobia, a symbol of strength, determination and will. Zenobia was the Queen of Palmyra, who ruled a powerful kingdom in the region. She was a strong and courageous woman who led her own armies and worked to develop her kingdom in various fields. Zenobia is a model for Syrian women who are able to achieve the impossible and lead their society towards progress and prosperity.

What historical importance does Zenobia hold for Syrian women, and what is her legacy in today’s context?

Zenobia is a great source of inspiration for Syrian women. She reminds us that Syrian women have always been able to be leaders and influencers in their society. Zenobia’s legacy represents the power of women and their ability to challenge and change, a vital legacy that we must preserve and pass on to future generations. In today’s context, Zenobia’s legacy challenges stereotypes that try to limit the role of women, and encourages women to claim their rights and actively participate in building Syria’s future.

How do you interpret the removal of Zenobia’s name from the new school curriculum?

Removing Zenobia’s name from the new curriculum is an attempt to obliterate women’s history and their role in building Syrian civilisation. This measure reflects a narrow and biased view of history and aims to marginalise and exclude women from the public sphere. We consider this measure to be a serious setback in the march of development and progress, and we will work hard to restore Zenobia’s name to the school curricula to be a source of inspiration for future generations.

In light of recent curriculum changes, how does your organisation plan to preserve the legacy of Zenobia and advocate for women’s historical contributions?

Despite the proposed curriculum changes, we will not stop working to preserve the memory of Zenobia and the role of women in history. Our plans include:

• Organising cultural events: We will hold seminars, conferences and workshops to talk about the life and achievements of Zenobia and other prominent Syrian women.
• Production of educational materials: We will develop alternative educational materials (books, films, multimedia) on the life of Zenobia and the role of women in Syrian history.
• Using media and social media: We will work to disseminate the stories of inspirational women through various media platforms to promote awareness of their role in society.
• Cooperation with other organisations: We will cooperate with other feminist and cultural organisations to unite efforts in preserving women’s memory.

How are women impacted by the ongoing wars and conflicts in Syria?

Women in Syria are greatly affected by the ongoing wars and conflicts. They are exposed to physical and sexual violence, forced displacement, loss of loved ones, extreme poverty, and denial of education and healthcare. Women face additional challenges in conflict zones, such as restrictions on movement and expression, and discrimination in accessing humanitarian aid. In addition, women bear additional burdens in caring for their families under difficult circumstances.

What message would you like to send to the international community about the challenges facing women in Syria?

Our message to the international community is to take serious and urgent steps to protect and empower women in Syria. We call on the international community to:

• Provide humanitarian support: Provide humanitarian assistance to women affected by the conflict, focusing on their specific needs.
• Combat sexual violence: Support efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence.
• Supporting education and economic empowerment: Providing education and vocational training opportunities for women and girls.
• Political Participation: Support women’s participation in the political process and decision-making.
• Accountability and justice: Hold perpetrators of sexual violence and human rights violations accountable and provide support to victims.
• Not giving up on Syria: Continue to support the Syrian people and seek a just and inclusive political solution that guarantees the rights of all Syrians, including women.

We believe that Syrian women are capable of building a better future for Syria. We, in the Zenobia Women’s Gathering, will continue to work hard to achieve this goal.

The significance of Kobane

In the wake of the people’s uprisings against despotic regimes in North Africa and the Middle East, the protests against the Assad regime in Syria also began in spring 2011. The Kurds in Rojava (Western Kurdistan), who had been oppressed for decades by the nationalist policiesof the Ba’ath dictatorship, demanded both a fundamental democratisation of Syria and recognition of their political and cultural self-determination. On 19 July 2012, the people of Kobane urged the Syrian military and the state apparatus to withdraw from the city. This was the beginning of the Rojava Revolution. Municipal and women’s councils set up by elected commune representatives took over the organisation of society’s affairs. This laid the foundations for the Democratic Autonomous Administration, which is based on the principles of grassroots democracy, ecology, women’s liberation and cultural and language diversity. Shortly afterwards, the Kurdish people in the regions of Efrin and Cizire followed Kobane’s example. In January 2014, the canton of Kobane was proclaimed as one of three self-administered cantons of the Democratic Autonomy based on the Social Contract of Rojava.

A review of the attacks on Kobane

The attacks on the Democratic Autonomous Administration in Kobane, which continue to this day, began with the major offensive of the ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS) in September 2014. Then as now, Turkey played a leading role. Thousands of ISIS mercenaries, militarily trained, equipped and led by Turkey, crossed the border into Syrian territory to attack Kobane. In October 2014, ISIS, armed with heavy artillery, depopulated and occupied a large part of the city of Kobane and 300 surrounding villages. More than 300,000 people were displaced. Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan declared at the time: ‘Kobane has fallen’. With the genocide and feminicide in Shengal and other heinous crimes against humanity, ISIS had spread such fear that it was considered ‘invincible’.

But this myth was shattered for the first time by the determined resistance of the YPJ and YPG women’s and people’s defence units in Kobane. The self-sacrificing actions of the YPJ fighters Arin Mirkan and Rewan Kobane became a symbol of this resistance. As a result of 134 days and nights of united resistance by the people of Kobane and all parts of Kurdistan, as well as strong international solidarity, the attacks were continuously repelled. Finally, on 26 January 2015, the city was completely liberated. This marked the beginning of the end of ISIS’s reign of terror in large parts of Syria and Iraq.

After the liberation, the people immediately returned to the town and villages of Kobane. They rebuilt their Autonomous Administration and their town, which had been completely destroyed by the war. Kobane is seen as proof that collective resistance and the will for freedom can change the course of history. But the attacks by the Turkish state and its mercenary groups have continued unabated. Turkish border guards have repeatedly shelled fields, villages and facilities in the Kobane region, destroying infrastructure and killing or injuring dozens of civilians. In particular, Turkey has carried out drone attacks against women’s activists, employees of the autonomous city administration and members of the YPJ/YPG self-defence forces.

An incomplete chronology of attacks on the Kobane region since June 2015

• On 25 June 2015, ISIS again attempted to occupy the town and villages of Kobane, massacring 252 residents, including 64 women and 35 children. The YPJ/YPJ defence forces and Asayish security forces managed to repel this attack.
• On 23 June 2020, Zehra Berkel and Hebun Mela Xelil, board members of the women’s umbrella organisation Kongra Star, and 60-year-old Emine Veysi were murdered in a drone attack by the Turkish army on Emine Veysi’s house in the village of Helince near Kobane.
• On 20 October 2021, a vehicle was bombed by a Turkish army drone in front of the Judicial Council building in the centre of Kobane. Two employees of the Autonomous Administration died and four others were injured.
• On 23 October 2021, three YPG members on their way to Kobane for medical treatment were killed in a drone strike on a car.
• On 25 December 2021, 7 members of the youth movement – Nujiyan Ocalan, Viyan Kobane, Rojin Ehmed Isa, Merhef Xelil Ibrahim, Walid Mihemed Menle and Mesud Ibrahim – were killed in a drone attack by the Turkish army on a house in the centre of Kobane.
• On 20 April 2022, 3 members of the YPJ Women’s Defence Units – Ranya Henan, Rodin Ebdilqadir Mihemed and Cihan Nidal Eli – were killed in a Turkish drone strike on their car.
• On 11 May 2022, 53-year-old Ekrem Ustek was killed in a drone strike in Kobane. He had been imprisoned in Turkey as a political prisoner. After his release, he took part in the defence of Kobane against ISIS in 2014.
• On 21 July 2022, two commanders of the YPG People’s Defence Units were killed in two drone strikes on the centre of Kobane.
• On 19 and 20 November 2022, the town and surrounding villages of Kobane were bombed by the Turkish army. Among others, TV reporter Mihemed Cerade was injured and the school in the village of Goran was destroyed.
• On 19 November 2022, the Turkish Air Force bombed the Covid-19 hospital in Kobane.
• On 28 November 2022, the regional health centre in the village of Qeremox, east of Kobane, was destroyed and put out of operation by Turkish air strikes.
• On 12 February, 25 April and 11 May 2023, a total of 4 members of the SDF Defence Forces lost their lives in Turkish army drone attacks on cars in the Kobane region.
• On 6 October 2023, the Turkish air force bombed the hospital run by the NGO “Doctors Without Borders”, a forest and a concrete factory in Kobane. In further attacks between 4 and 24 October, three civilians were killed and eight others injured in the Kobane region.
• On 25 December 2023, the Turkish state bombed the Kurdish Red Crescent hospital and a car service shop in Kobane. The following day, the Turkish state bombed 7 Asayish checkpoints on the access roads to Kobane.
• On 14 January 2023, the Turkish army bombed the villages of Shekhlera Jorin, Zormixar and Ehmet Munur, a cement factory, grain silos and the power station in the area of Kobane. As a result, 150 tonnes of grain were destroyed. The electricity supply to the city and 660 villages was cut. The fire brigade was bombed again while
  fighting the fire.
• On 25 January 2024, Turkish drones bombed the villages of Koran, Xerbisan and Qeremox in the Kobane region. Local resident Maruf Xelil Mihemed was injured.
• On 6 April 2024, YPJ commander Sorxwin Celal and Arin Kobane, who had been fighting against IS, were killed in a Turkish army drone attack on their car.
• On 18 April 2024, Kobane residents Ali Mustafa Osman and Halima Mihemed Osman were injured in a Turkish drone strike on their car in the village of Enbet, east of Kobane.
• On 30 June 2024, 24-year-old farmer Yehya Ibrahim Eli was seriously injured by a Turkish army kamikaze drone attack while working in the fields between the villages of Bexdik and Kultepe.
• On 15 October 2024, the Turkish army again shelled the villages of Shekhlera Jorin, Zormixar and Ehmet Minur with artillery.
• From 23 to 27 October 2024, the Turkish army repeatedly attacked Kobane with fighter jets, drones and heavy weapons. The attacks targeted infrastructure, a food factory, grain stores, water and electricity plants. At least seven workers were injured in the attacks.
• On 8 and 9 December 2024, Turkey, together with mercenary troops from the Turkish-controlled ‘Syrian National Army’ (SNA), launched a major offensive to capture the Karakozak-Euphrates Bridge, the M4 highway and the Tishrin Dam south of Kobane. Three members of the Asayish security forces in Kobane, Hesen İbrahim, Suhel Beki, Hesen Nesan and Mihemed Emin Hemo, and two children were killed in the village of Kon Eftar, south-west of Kobane. YPJ fighters Berfin Mihemed and Zeyneb Welat were killed by a Turkish drone strike while defending the Qereqozaq bridge.
• On 10 December 2024, 12-year-old Mehmud Shex Eli and 25-year-old Ebdullah Mehmud Shex Eli were killed in an NSA attack on the village of Ceida Mezin, south-west of Kobane. Two other children, aged 10 and 8, were injured in the attack and required hospital treatment.
• On 11 December 2024, the SDF agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire with the Turkish-controlled SNA mercenary force. However, attacks by the SNA and the Turkish army continued unabated. 6 SDF members were killed in a Turkish drone attack near the Qereqozaq bridge. A civilian vehicle carrying eleven people was machine-gunned by SNA mercenaries as it crossed the bridge. Sixty-year-old Zahide Kusi was killed. Eight-year-old Ciwan
  Berkel was wounded. The Tishrin dam was also attacked again by SNA ground troops and the Turkish air
  force. Fierce fighting broke out. An ambulance carrying the wounded was attacked by the Turkish air force on the road between Tishrin and Sirrin. One of the wounded and the driver of the ambulance were killed. A nurse and another casualty were seriously injured.
• On 12 December 2024, the Turkish army bombed the Tishrin Dam with tanks and drones. International observers warned that the attacks could cause the dam to burst and lead to a serious humanitarian crisis.
• On 14 December 2024, the Turkish army deployed another large contingent of troops, heavy artillery and tanks in the Pirsus region on the border with Kobane.
• On 19 December 2024, Cihan Bilgin, correspondent for the ANHA news agency, and Nazim Dashtan, journalist for the ANF news agency, were killed by Turkish drone fire in the Kobane region while covering the fighting at the Tishrin Dam and Qereqozaq Bridge. The driver of their car, Eziz Hec Bozan, was seriously injured.
• On 20 December 2024, SNA forces shelled the area around the Qereqozaq Bridge and an asphalt factory south of the city of Kobane.
• On 22 December 2024, a 12-year-old child named Nasim Xelil and his 35-year-old mother, Sewsen Xelil, were killed by heavy artillery shelling by SNA mercenary forces on the village of Jadah in the Kobane region.
• On 23 December 2024, the Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD) launched a counter-offensive on the Euphrates in response to the ongoing attacks by the Turkish army and the SNA. The QSD attacked several SNA bases and liberated several villages near the Tishrin Dam.
• On 25 December 2024, YPJ commander Ronahi Yekta, who had played an important role in the defence of the Tishrin Dam, was killed in a Turkish drone strike.
• On 31 December 2024, Turkish artillery shelled the Qereqozaq bridge and the village of Bir Hiso in the south of Kobane. Residential buildings were destroyed or severely damaged by shells. More than 25 hits were recorded in the early hours of the morning alone. The attacks continued the following day. In the Kobane region, a teenager was injured when Turkish border guards indiscriminately machine-gunned the village of Qeremox.
• On 1 January 2025, Turkish attack drones bombed a sugar factory in the town of Dair Hafir, west of the Euphrates. The factory was rendered inoperable by the attack.
• On 6 January 2025, the Turkish army bombarded the villages of Seve and Cade on the southern outskirts of Kobane with artillery fire.
• On 8 January 2025, a Turkish drone attack targeted a civilian convoy travelling from Kobane to the Tishrin dam. Kerem Ehmed El Shihab El Hemed, a member of the Zenubiya Women’s Gathering, and members of the youth movement Zozan Hemo and Azad Ferhan Mihemed Hesan were killed. 15 other people were injured. Mistefa Ebdi and Eli Shasho lost their lives in another Turkish attack by a combat drone on the village of Girke near Kobane.
• On 10 January 2025, the grain silo in the village of Sirrin, 40 kilometres south of the city of Kobane, was bombed for the second time by the Turkish Air Force.
• On 11 January 2025, a Turkish fighter jet bombed a house in the village of Al-Masrab, near the town of Sirrin. Two sisters, aged 12 and 13, and their 37-year-old father were killed in the attack. Five other children aged between one and ten were injured.
• On 12 January 2025, Turkish warplanes bombed the village of Gire Berkel near Kobane four times. The small town of Sirrin and villages near the Tishrin dam were also repeatedly bombed by the Turkish air force.
• On 13 January 2025, villages in the south of Kobane and a cement factory near Sirrin were again bombed by Turkish army drones, fighter jets and artillery. An ambulance belonging to the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor a Kurd), travelling from the Tishrin dam towards Kobane, was missed by a few metres by a drone bomb.
• A family was buried in their own home during Turkish air strikes on rural Sirrin, south of Kobane, on 14 January 2025.
• On 15 January 2025, the Turkish occupying state repeatedly bombed a civilian convoy on the road to the Tishrin Dam. As a result, one person was killed and 14 were injured. On the same day, the Turkish occupying state targeted the place where the people gathered to protest. Omer Hisen Derweş, Osman Mustafa Ibrahim and Basim Omer were killed and 19 other civilians were injured, some of them seriously.
• On 16 January 2025, the Turkish state continued its attacks against the civilian population. Warplanes repeatedly bombed the vigil at the Tishrin Dam. One of the activists involved was killed and 17 people, including 3 journalists, were injured.
• Also on 17 January 2025, the village of Sirrin and the surroundings of the Tishrin Dam were bombed by drones of the Turkish occupation state.

Why is Kobane being targeted again by Turkey?

In parallel with the advance of the paramilitary jihadist HTS groups in Syria, Turkey has also been coordinating new attacks by NSA jihadists and the Turkish army on the areas of the Democratic Autonomous Administration since 27 November 2007. Following the displacement of some 200,000 people from the Til Rifat-Sheba region and the violent occupation of Minbic, Turkey has declared the Kobane region a particular target. In order to cut the link between Kobane and the city of Reqqa and the Cizire region, the Turkish army has also been intensively bombing the districts of Ain-Issa and Til Temir for weeks. In addition, on 13 December, the Turkish army, together with NSA jihadists, launched a major attack on the Qaraqozak Bridge and the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates in order to encircle the city and cut off the electricity and water supply to the entire region. The regions of Tishrin and Qereqozaq are among the most strategically important points in northern Syria in military, political, economic and infrastructural terms.

The continuing attacks have been repeatedly repelled by SDF and YPJ units. However, Turkey has stationed large contingents of troops along the border to launch another occupation attack on Kobane. The Turkish government cynically calls its plan, which is accompanied by renewed massacres, destruction and ‘ethnic cleansing’, the ‘establishmentof a security zone’. On 17 December, the commander of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, publicly proposed ‘a demilitarised zone in the city of Kobane with a redistribution of security forces under American supervision and presence’ in order to ‘address Turkey’s security concerns and ensure lasting stability’.

However, the Turkish army and its NSA ground forces have continued to intensify their attacks and threats. In contrast, the people of Kobane, the Defence Forces and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria have once again demonstrated their willingness to defend Kobane and the Democratic Autonomous Administration. On 8 January 2025, the first civilian convoy to protect the Tishrin Dam left Kobane with hundreds of cars. Despite the deadly drone attacks on the convoy and the continued bombing of the area around the dam, thousands of people from Kobane and other regions of the Democratic Autonomous Administration continue their constant vigil at the dam. New people are arriving every day to prevent the bombing from causing the dam to burst, which would trigger devastating floods and a humanitarian and ecological disaster with repercussions in northern Syria and Iraq.

The vigil participants’ message is: “The defence of Qereqozaq and Tishrin is the defence of Kobane!” The people in Northern Kurdistan are also aware of this and support the resistance with vigils and demonstrations along the border. International mobilisations and declarations of solidarity make it clear that the defence of Kobane and the Rojava revolution is not only crucial for the future of the people of Kobane, but also has global significance.

17.01.2025
Kongra Star Information Centre

Syria depends heavily on the Euphrates River, which is the largest river that passes through its territory, and has built three dams on it, the largest of which is the Euphrates Dam, followed by Tishrin and al-Hurriya, which is a regulatory dam for the riverbed. These dams used to provide electricity, drinking water and irrigation for agricultural lands.

But Turkey’s withholding of the river’s water affected agriculture, drinking water and irrigation, as well as decline of the level of the lakes, which causes humanitarian and environmental problems. In addition to its effect on agriculture and electricity, the shortage of water from the Euphrates caused the spread of diseases and epidemics.

Its water became a fertile environment for the spread of germs and bacteria, in addition to damaging the infrastructure of the dams. Since February 2020, Turkey continues to withhold water from the Euphrates river to Syria, amid warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe, as a result of the decline in the level of the lakes.

Agricultural Damage

Turkey continues to withhold the flow of water from the Euphrates River towards Syrian and Iraqi lands, amid regional and international warnings of a health and agricultural disaster in the region.

Withholding water from the river increased the suffering of farmers, and pushed them to buy diesel engines and additional water pipes to draw water from the river through them. These matters pose a burden on them due to the high costs on farmers.

Farmers had to use long pipes to draw water from the Euphrates river to follow its course after it receded hundreds of meters, which warns of desertification of the lands.

Turkey violates the water agreement signed between Ankara and Damascus, which stipulates a flow of 500 cubic meters per second to Syria and Iraq. However, the amount that currently reaches to lands does not exceed 200 cubic meters per second.

Farmers slammed the local and international silence towards this issue, stressing that if water shortage continues, it will affects residents of the region.

Earlier, Raqqa’s Irrigation Bureau, affiliated with Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), recommended that farmers should adhere to the summer agricultural plan, in light of the decline of water level of Euphrates and the lake by more than 4 meters below its storage.

On June 15, the Agriculture and Irrigation Committee, affiliated with the AANES, issued a circular stating the need to adhere to the allowed area for cultivation and reduce the area of the intensive season by 10 percent to become 33 percent of the total irrigated area.

Earlier, Imad Abeed, an administrator at the Euphrates Dam Committee, said that for about two months, the water level in the lake has been dropping by two cm daily, posing a danger to the summer seasons for farmers, due to their inability to open water for irrigation channels.

In the countryside of Raqqa, Tabqa and Deir ez-Zor, farmers complain of a lack of irrigation water regarding the main channels and drought in the artesian wells, which exposed agricultural crops to damage and harm.

Bad Electricity Situation

Residents of northeastern Syria complain of the scarcity of hours of electricity supply and its outage for long periods that sometimes reach 22 hours, and their suffering is exacerbated by the inability of most of them to resort to alternatives to electricity due to its high costs.

The electricity was affected by the low water level, as dams are about to be out of service “completely”.

Hamoud al-Hamadin, an official at Tishrin Dam, said that the dam stops working for 18 hours a day, after exhausting of 85 percent of the lake level, expecting it to be out of service “permanently” at any moment.

The electric power is distributed at the minimum possible limit that does not meet the needs of economy and population, especially in summer season amid of high temperatures.

The low water level affected the electricity situation, which led to an “unfair” rationing.

“For more than thirty months, imports of the Euphrates River are at their lowest level, due to water withholding by the Turkish side, without any changes or helpful measures” al-Hamadin told North Press.

He added that the Euphrates River and dams lakes are in “the worst condition”, and at their lowest level in light of the high and continuous heat wave, and at the urgent need for drinking and irrigation water.

The storage level of Tishrin Dam is 325 meters above sea level, while the dead storage level is 320 meters, however the current level reached 320.30 meters. This means that the dam may stop working at any moment, if it reaches the dead level.

Exhausted dams

In a previous statement, Ahmad Oso, director of al-Hurriya Dam, said that the dam’s production decreased from 75 megawatts per hour to 14 megawatts due to the lack of water supply by Turkey.

Additionally, due to limited water supply, approximately 3.5 billion cubic meters were depleted from the strategic storage of the Euphrates Dam’s reservoir. This depletion caused the lake level to decrease to 10.5 billion cubic meters out of its original capacity of 14.5 billion cubic meters.

According to Imad Obeid, an administrator at the Dam, the water flowing from Turkey is not used for electricity generation. Instead, it is depleted through evaporation caused by high temperatures, as well as for drinking water and irrigation purposes.

Obeid further explained that out of the eight turbines, six are currently inactive, and the remaining two turbines are operating at half capacity. Under normal conditions, each turbine has the capacity to produce 120 megawatts per hour. However, due to the limited water supply, they are currently only able to generate up to 45 megawatts per hour.

The dam official expressed concerns about the possibility of shutting down the dam. This is because the current water level of the Euphrates Lake has reached 298.45 meters, which is close to the critical threshold of 296 meters, known as the dead level. The maximum operational level of the lake is 304 meters. If the water level drops to the dead level, the dam will cease to function.

Environmental and Health Impacts

The continuous decline in Euphrates water threatens all aspects of life. Withholding the river water for more than 30 months portends a humanitarian and environmental disaster.

Due to an increase in impurities, bacteria, and germs in the river water, many water stations have been compelled to enhance their water sterilization processes. This measure has become necessary after incidents of water-related poisoning and the spread of cholera were reported.

In addition to the difficulty of extracting water from the river due to its receding flow, some water stations have been rendered out of service while others have had to resort to constructing channels to follow the course of the river. Furthermore, the power supply to these stations has been affected.

Due to the recession of the riverbed, residents in areas near the Euphrates River have been experiencing issues with contaminated drinking water. This situation has not only impacted their access to clean water but has also affected agricultural activities that rely on the river as a water source.

During the past period, there has been a significant decline in the fish stock in the Euphrates River, as well as in the lakes and artificial basins located within the riverbed. This decline can be attributed to the decreased water level of the Euphrates.

Despite the severe decline of Euphrates level and the disasters it presages, there has been a lack of proactive response from the Syrian government and the international actors involved in Syria.

The water level of the Euphrates River has dropped by five meters recently due to Turkey’s seizure of the river’s water. The flow rate has been limited to 200 cubic meters per second, which is a serious breach of the 1987 water-sharing agreement signed with Syria and Iraq under the United Nations’ supervision. The 1987 agreement stipulates Turkey’s permanent commitment to pumping 500 cubic meters of water per second from the Euphrates River towards Syria.

Al-Hamadin said that the lake has lost more than 85 percent of its reserve. If the dam lose more of its reserve, it will be turned into a riverbed. The dam stops working for about 18 hours a day. Only two turbines of six operate, the official told North Press. He also highlighted that electricity generated on the dam does not meet the population needs, especially in summer. Electricity rationing stems from the low level of water, according to al-Hamadin.  Euphrates River has recorded the lowest inflow due to withholding water by Turkey for more than thirty months, he stated. Euphrates River and Dams’ lakes are witnessing the worst conditions ever, amid sweltering summer heat, he added.

Tishrin Dam is at the risk of stop operating at any time. This will occur if the dam reaches the dead level, less than 320m from sea surface. 

And there is another crisis hitting Kurdish communities in NES; Turkey has been restricting the flow of water into an area already hit hard by climate change. As a result, in a place that relies heavily on agriculture, crops are failing, farmers are falling into debt and people are being forced to leave because of recurring drought.

But there is a ray of hope, particularly from the women of the area. A project called Water for Rojava, organised by the UK-based Solidarity Economy Association, crowd-funded £105,000 (US$127,000) in mid-2022 to assist women’s farming cooperatives re-irrigate lands suffering from drought. “We want to secure a good life for the women who will live in the village. There are 13 women running this project. Now we are digging and looking for water,” writes a spokeswoman from the Women’s Economic Committee in Derik, north-east Rojava, about a farming co-operative being assisted by the Committee.

With support from Water for Rojava, the Women’s Economic Committee has irrigated 75 hectares on a 450-hectare former state-run farm near Derik (estimated population 40,000) and 50 hectares near al-Hasakah (with a metropolitan population of over 600,000). “With water these communities can flourish again,” explains Sami Miran (we are using a pseudonym to protect his identity), who visited NES in October 2022 as part of delegation from Water for Rojava.

“Democracy without the state”

Kurdish-majority areas in northern Syria declared autonomy in 2012, during the second year of the ongoing Syrian war, in what is known as the ‘Rojava Revolution’. Building on principles from the Kurdish liberation struggle, the inhabitants of NES organise through democratic confederalism, “a social, political, and economic model of self-administration of different peoples, pioneered by women and the youth,” Kurdish academic and activist Dilar Dirik explained in ROAR magazine in 2016. “It is democracy without the state.”

In Rojava – which has an estimated population of four to five million people – political decisions are devolved to gender-balanced local councils, instead of power deferred to the nation state.

Women’s liberation and ethnic cohesion are key in Rojava. It officially changed its name from Rojava (meaning ‘West’ in Kurdish) to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in September 2018, to reflect the mosaic of ethnicities and religions that live in the area. Women are central to the revolution; in addition to gender parity on all levels of decision-making, there is a strong commitment to ending violence and oppression against women.

Before the 2012 revolution, the Syrian government controlled massive state-run farms, part of which is what the co-operative near Derik use. “Standing there, all you see is the land stretching to the horizon,” recalls Miran, who visited the 450-hectare farm.

The Women’s Economic Committee, one of the regional-wide organising committees in NES, supports women’s co-operatives to rejuvenate these lands. “Women do everything from digging wells and pumping the water, to building climate resilient infrastructure, such as shade in warehouses or planting climate resilient crops. Then, women transport the crops [including wheat, fruit, vegetables and lentils] to market and sell it. As they work in co-operatives, there is no boss or underling. Profits are shared,” Miran says.

Man-made drought and water wars

“Drought is being caused by Turkey, the climate crisis and the local water policies [of the Syrian state before 2012],” explains Ercan Ayboga, co-author of Revolution in Rojava and an activist within the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement.

Ayboga says that Syria under the Ba’ath Party regime (which has been led by the al-Assad family since 1971) followed a policy of industrial farming that included full-scale deforestation and digging tens of thousands of wells. However, he suggests, it is possible to reverse this situation: “With vegetation, especially forests, water remains in the nature. It does not run off.”

Miran, who grew up in the area, reflects on what life used to be like in the ‘breadbasket of the Levant’: “This rich soil once grew olives, wheat, lentils, peas, cotton, beans and chickpeas – basically anything you sowed. It fed not only Syria, but Jordan, Turkey and further afield.”

Turkey stands accused of weaponising water against the Kurds by restricting its flow into NES. The Turkish state denies this, despite evidence such as Turkey’s dam building programme flooding and destroying Kurdish cities in Turkey, for example Hasankeyf in 2020.

“Turkey using water as a weapon is unique. I do not know of another state cutting water in such a systemic way for such long periods,” says Ayboga.

The Euphrates, a river of great regional and historical importance, begins in Turkey before flowing through Syria and Iraq, and is an essential life source for both downstream states. In 1987, Turkey committed to ensure that 500 cubic metres of water per second would flow into Syria. This is approximately half of what flowed prior to the 1960s, when Turkey started building extensive dams, irrigation and hydro-electric power.

Ayboga says that between 1987 and 2012 Turkey failed to keep this agreement only once, with the filling of its Atatürk Dam in the early 1990s. However, “since 2012, Turkey has only released 200-250 cubic metres per second, especially in the spring and summer, depriving [northern Syria of] water for irrigation.”

Since 2016, Turkey and Turkish-backed militias have occupied and attacked northern Syria, including occupying the canton of Afrin, displacing over 300,000 people. The Turkish-backed groups have since faced allegations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes. These attacks are part of a longer history of oppression against the Kurds that go back to the formation of the Turkish state in 1923. Turkey defines the Kurdish liberation struggle inside of Turkey as “terrorism” and it uses the same argument to attack NES .

Health concerns

In January 2023, Euphrates flow averaged 125 cubic metres per second, according to Hammoud al-Hammadi, an administrator at the Tishrin Dam in NES, the second biggest dam in Syria, speaking to the North Press Agency.

As a result of water deprivation, hydro-electric power generation – NES’s primary source of electricity – is grinding to a halt. According to Miran, people in the area now rely on fuel-powered generators, which cause pollution and respiratory illness. “If the Euphrates flowed [efficiently] that problem would disappear overnight.”

In fact, water scarcity is causing a number of health dangers. On 10 September 2022, a cholera epidemic was declared in Syria, impacting both NES and other parts of Syria. After over a decade of war, infrastructural damage is a major problem. One of UNICEF’s primary concerns is the Alouk pumping station, now in Turkish-occupied territory. They estimate that nearly one million people in NES rely on this source for potable water. During all of 2022, UNICEF reported that for 128 days, this station failed to pump any water at all, while it only partially worked on 54 days. To prevent further cholera epidemics, UNICEF proposes a “UN-led monitoring mechanism [at Alouk] to ensure uninterrupted services, and to provide maintenance support as required, which is currently under discussion.”

The Water for Rojava delegation visited Al-Hasakah city, a hotspot for the cholera epidemic, and one of the places where women are digging wells. “Cholera levels were dropping as they treated water from tankers with chloride,” Miran explains.

“The city needs the Alouk water station, but it often pumps no water. This is the situation since October 2019, when it became controlled by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army. Instead, locals were drawing water from the Xabûr River. This was full of sewage from Turkey.”

Ground-up and geopolitical solutions

Another way that NES is attempting to resolve the water crisis is by reversing the legacy of Syrian government policies that focused on mono-cash-crops, especially wheat and cotton for export. “There are discussions across NES also about reducing [water] usage. The Economic Committees are also encouraging [fruit] tree planting for your own needs. Organisers are planting small forests around cities,” Miran says.

Ayboga thinks Turkey will not change course unless President Recep Erdoğan loses the planned May 2023 elections: “Their current strategy is to destroy infrastructure and reduce people’s access to water and food so that people get fed up, change allegiances or leave; they think that the fewer people who live [in NES] the better.”

Turkey has defended the legitimacy of its massive dam building, irrigation and other water projects as ways to bring economic development. Yet the Turkish government also denies a litany of abuses against Kurds and its evermore hardline authoritarian policies. These include killing Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, the banning of opposition parties, attacks on women’s rights, and a clampdown against critical media.

Ayboga suggests the US and its European allies can pressure Turkey to stop withholding water: “We know the US allowed Turkey to attack [border towns] Serê Kaniyê and Tell Abyad in 2019. Yet in the last months, reports suggest that the US pressured Turkey to halt its latest invasion [deeper into northern Syria]. The US and EU want a balance of forces [in the Syrian War]. They do not want Turkey to destroy this project [NES], but they do not want it to become too strong – politically, militarily or economically – either.”

Tişrîn Dam direction said that the dam resumed working at 1pm on Wednesday and added that the working hours of the dam will be parallel to the amount of Euphrates water and the electricity hours will decrease in the current situation. The direction noted that this program will continue until the beginning of Ramadan if the water level does not decrease.

The dam direction told ANHA that the dam will only be stopped for one day on 17 March. In a statement, the direction wrote: “The decrease in the Euphrates River caused by Turkey for more than a year, has also affected the Euphrates and Tişrîn dams. In this context, it was decided to stop the Tişrîn Dam for the 2023 agricultural season. The Dams Management gives priority to drinking water and irrigation of agricultural lands.”

The statement added that “if the water level remains the same, the Tişrîn Dam will be stopped from time to time.”

The Turkish state is delivering less than 200 cubic meters of water per second to Syrian soil. This is contrary to the agreement signed between Ankara and Damascus in 1987 according to which, Syria must be given at least 500 cubic meters per second.

On the other hand, the water tanks behind the dams in Northern and Eastern Syria remained empty as a result of the Turkish state’s continuous cutting off the water of the Euphrates River.

On Wednesday, the General Administration of Dams, affiliated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), issued a decision to put Tishrin out of service for one week.

He said, “After a meeting between the AANES’ General Administration of Dams and the Energy Office, a decision was made to suspend the Tishrin Dam for a full week, starting from today, March 1.”

On February 23, an administrator in the AANES’ Administration of Dams said that they are “seriously” discussing to sporadically halt service at the Tishrin Dam.

After reaching the dead level, he noted, the dam must be completely put out of commission. Reaching this level causes damage to the dam’s structure and turbines.

The decision came to preserve drinking water, which has the utmost priority, and to preserve irrigation water to have a good harvest season which would secure food for the region’s residents.

Hammadin stressed that there will be great damage caused by the decision. The direct impact, he said, is depriving the region of electricity.

Whether this would be done again or not is contingent on the water supply, he said.

Since February 2020, Turkey has withheld water from the Euphrates River, breaching a 1987 treaty which entails Syria and Iraq should receive 500 cubic meter per second of water. At this moment, only 200 cubic meter is being let through by Turkey.

Images captured on the banks of the Euphrates reveal that a large part of the Euphrates River has dried up. These areas which were once a source of life for the region have now become arid lands.

The images taken by ANHA at the Rojava Dam (Tishrin), Syria’s second largest dam on the Euphrates River, show that the waters of the river have decreased significantly.

The Turkish state, which has been using the Euphrates water as a weapon against the Syrians for years, cuts off the waters flowing into Iraq and Syria to a large extent.

According to the agreement signed between the governments of Damascus and Ankara in 1987, Turkey is supposed to deliver 500 cubic meters of water per second to Syria. However, the invading state does not comply with the agreement, delivering only 200 cubic meters of water per second currently.

The negative effects of the dwindling waters can be seen clearly on the ground. Due to the water cuts, the waters in the dam lakes in Syria have decreased, while electricity production and electricity supply to the region have diminished.

Moreover, the amount of agricultural land on the banks of the Euphrates is decreasing. Most importantly, access to drinking water has become difficult. This situation is causing major health problems.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria warned that the Turkish state’s policy to decrease the waters of the Euphrates River would cause humanitarian crises in the region, jeopardizing 9 million Syrians living in areas close to the river.

The Dams Administration of North and East Syria called on the international community and human rights organizations to stop the provocative actions of the Turkish state.

The invading Turkish state has been cutting off the waters of the Euphrates River for more than 2 years. Agriculture and fishing have been hard hit as a result of the diminishing water level of the river. This has resulted in a decrease in underground waters and pollution of surface waters. Decreased waters are leading to many diseases because they are polluted.

‘FOOD SAFETY CAN BE ATTAINED BY WATER’

Interviewed by ANHA, engineer Hemud El Hemadin, one of the managers of the Rojava Dam (Tishrin), said that the safe areas of North and East Syria, which have become home to many immigrants, need more water.

“When the water flow of the Euphrates River was stopped, the river turned into a lake. The water level of the river has dropped by 5 meters. It is a serious danger that the water of the Euphrates, 10 times bigger than the Tishrin Dam Lake, has withdrawn by 5 meters,” he said.

WATER REDUCTION LEADS TO INFERTILITY IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

El Hemadin said that lack of water negatively affects agriculture. “The General Administration of Dams is trying to use water properly to maintain the water level, provide water for summer projects and secure food security to some extent,” he added.

‘REDUCTION OF WATER FLOW MAY LEAD TO HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE’

“Due to a low water level, the dam was closed for about 16 hours. We monitor the water level daily. Because of the heat, the waters evaporate and there is no increase in the water level,” El Hemadin noted.

El Hemadin remarked that the water flow allowed by the Turkish state is not enough. “At best, the water that is released per second is 250 cubic meters, which only provides the daily drinking water. Plus, 75 cubic meters evaporates per day. About 160 cubic meters of water is used for agricultural irrigation. But the waters allowed by the Turkish state do not meet basic needs. Here, too, we have to use lakes to produce electricity,” he added.

El Hemadin noted that in the past years, 6 turbines were active to supply electricity to the region for 24 hours. Today, there are only 2 turbines and electricity can be supplied for 8 hours.

‛CHOLERA EPIDEMIC BROKE OUT DUE TO WATER REDUCTION‘

El Hemadin gave information about the cholera epidemic that has broken out in the region. “Many diseases, especially cholera epidemic, one of the most dangerous infectious diseases, have broken out under the current conditions. This disease had not existed for a long time. The epidemic has reappeared as the Turkish state has reduced the river waters and the level of the lakes is decreasing.”

El Hemadin underlined that stagnant waters help the spread of bacteria, viruses and epidemics. “As the waters are decreasing, pollution is increasing.”

“Pressure should be put on the Turkish state for the release of water. In order to do so, we are trying to communicate with the international community and humanitarian organizations,” El Hemadin concluded.

“The lake of the Rojava Dam has turned into a riverbed,” this is how Engineer Hammoud al-Hamadin, director of the Rojava Dam, began his talk about the reality of the Euphrates River, which the Turkish occupation state is blocking large quantities of from the Syrian and Iraqi lands.

Al-Hamadin says that the Rojava Dam lake has lost more than 5 meters of its stock, and is close to reaching the dead level after which the dam will not be able to continue its work, while indicating that the Euphrates Dam lake in Tabqa has lost up to 4 meters.

The lack of water imports from Turkey is unprecedented!

The Turkish occupation state is openly and on all fronts fighting of North and East Syria, and the occupying state does not spare any effort in the eradication the existence of Syrian people and annexation many Syrian lands.

The director of the Rojava Dam, one of the three Syrian dams built on the course of the Euphrates River, says that the lake of the Rojava Dam has decreased by more than 5 meters, and is now approaching the dead level at which the work of the dam is supposed to stop and what is called the lake is canceled, and adds: “About only one meter and we reach the dead level, which will mean an environmental and humanitarian disaster.”

Al-Hamadin points out that “were it not for the highly regulated use of the water in the lake, we would have witnessed environmental disasters. The low level in the Rojava Dam lake does not mean that the matter is simple. The strategic stock of the lake’s work is 5 and a half meters, and the 5 meters out of service means the end of the lake and the depletion of the lake’s stock.” This is due to the lack of water resources from the Turkish side.”

He continues: “The current lack of water is unprecedented. Previously, Turkey used to block water for a month and then give a splash for two or three days. This meant a glimmer of hope to continue the work of the dams, save agricultural crops on both sides of the river, or maintain strategic levels at a minimum. But for five months, the rate has been completely constant, at about 200 cubic meters per second and sometimes less, and this is directly reflected in the level of the lakes.”

Thoughtful use of water

In terms of numbers, Engineer Hammoud al-Hamadin says that “the evaporation rate from the lakes in the summer reaches 75 cubic meters, and the metered drinking water need is about 25 cubic meters per second, and the irrigation water need is about 140 cubic meters per second, so the total consumption is 240 cubic meters per second, while the level we have is 200 cubic meters, this means a loss of 40 cubic meters per second of the lakes’ stock instead of raising it.”

As a result of the dam’s suspension and the lack of water in the lake, al-Hamadin says that “there is a suitable environment for the reproduction of all kinds of germs, especially since the Turkish side also throws industrial waste from factories and sewage into the river. When the water decreases, the concentration of this pollution increases, and we get a lower quality of water. In the case of water engineering, we know that the river washes itself by itself through its flow, but at the present time the river is stopped, so we lack this advantage.”

The following video unfortunately does not contain English subtitles.

The Turkish state continues to reduce the water flow of the Euphrates River to North-East Syria, negatively affecting the basic services in the region such as agriculture and electricity. Electricity production has decreased dramatically recently due to the lack of water storage capacity at the Tishrin Dam, one of the important dams in the region.

Hemud El Hemadin, one of the Tishrin Dam officials, spoke to ANHA and said that they could supply electricity only for 6 hours per day due to the lack of water, only between 16.00 and 22.00. He added that they could provide electricity to the region for up to 8 hours before.

The Turkish state has been dropping the water of the Euphrates River since January 27, 2021. Only 200 cubic meters of water per second is allowed to flow downstream, which is supposed to be 500 cubic meters of water per second.

The Turkish state, which pursued the same policies last year, has caused the water of the Euphrates to dry up almost completely.

The water drop in the Euphrates increases the risks for the region. The Euphrates River is generally supposed to flow strongly in spring every year but faces reduction by Turkey. The summer season and the coming months will be difficult for the Syrian people who experience difficulties due to the low water level of the Euphrates River in all areas.

A few years ago, the flow rate in the Euphrates reached a thousand cubic meters per second in the spring season.

Water drop in the Euphrates is jeopardizing agriculture, electricity, drinking water, fisheries and industry, food and water security in the territories of northern and eastern Syria.

The water supply coming from the Turkish side has sharply decreased since the beginning of last April to less than 125 cubic meters per second, which is less than the quota stipulated in the Turkish-Syrian agreement relating to the Euphrates River, according to Hamadin.

According to the 1987 agreement signed between Damascus and Ankara regarding the Euphrates River, Syria’s share of water coming from Turkey is no less than 500 cubic meters per second on average, equivalent to 2,500 barrels.

Tishreen Dam, which is located 20 km southeast of Manbij, is considered the second largest power station in Syria after the Euphrates Dam in Tabqa.

Hamadin confirmed that the vertical drop of water in the Tishreen Dam lake is approximately five meters, knowing that five and a half meters is the entire strategic reserve of the lake (that is, the amount of water that can operate the dam).

The continuation of the low water level by Turkey and the cessation of the dam’s work for long periods creates a suitable environment for the multiplication of bacteria and the emergence of algae. The river turns into a swamp which portends the spread of diseases and epidemics, “on top of which is leishmaniasis, which has spread recently and in abundance,” according to the administrative official in the dam.

The administration of Tishreen Dam, which generates electricity, now relies on operating two turbines at a minimum, with a capacity not exceeding 120 megawatt-hours, which is a very low percentage and leads to increased malfunctions in the turbines due to operation and shutdown.

Before the level of water decreased, the amount of electricity generated by operating one turbine was 105 megawatt-hours of electricity, according to Hamadin.

“The dam stops working from ten p.m. until four p.m. which means the electricity is 6 hours on versus 18 hours off,” he added.

The occupying Turkish state has reduced Syria’s share of the Euphrates River water since January 27, 2021. The claim that Turkey allows the flow of water does not reflect the truth. On the contrary, Turkey continues to reduce the amount of water flow into Syria, which negatively affects all areas of life.

70% of the water coming from outside of Syria meets the needs of the people. However, the Euphrates water has gradually decreased by 35%. Reduction of water affects the daily needs of the region’s people, including drinking water, agriculture and electricity.

According to the agriculture committees in the region, the Euphrates provides water to approximately 900,000 acres of agricultural land in Syria, and the water flow was decreased significantly in the summer of 2020.

At a time when the embargo continues to hit North and East Syria, the decrease in the level of the Euphrates water also affects the production of the region.

TISHRIN DAM

The Tishrin (Rojava) Dam Management Member Engineer Hemûd El-Hemadîn said that the catchment of the Euphrates and Tishrin dams received approximately 16 billion cubic meters of water. However, the water level in both dams has dropped up to 3 meters.

Speaking to ANHA, El-Hemadîn revealed that the water level in both dams dropped to 6 meters in 2021. “Last year, electricity distribution in the region was a disaster. In some areas, electricity was distributed for only 2 or 3 hours in 24 hours, and the dam could only work for 6 hours,” he said.

“Dams need 300 cubic meters of water per second to operate properly. Furthermore, a turbine needs 105 megawatts of electricity to operate. However, the amount has dropped to 200 or 125 cubic meters per second.”

El-Hemadin noted that the decrease in the water level would lead to a humanitarian disaster in the long run, adding, “If the Turkish state continues to reduce the water level, drinking water will decrease, the agricultural season will be negatively affected, and electricity will be cut off completely.”

The critical water shortage and its economic and political impacts have been discussed by delegates at the International Water Forum held in Hasekê, northern Syria.

The shortage is mainly due to the diversion of the Euphrates River’s flow by Turkey since January 2021.

Although Turkey is obliged to allow a flow of 500 cubic metres per second according to a protocol signed with Syria on 17 July 1987, local sources have reported that recently only 150-200 cubic metres per second is getting across the border to north and east Syria.

The low flow is threatening to cause a massive humanitarian crisis in the region, where water consumption is dependent on the Euphrates.

The water shortage is indicated to have diminished agricultural production, the availability of fresh water and power production in the region while also triggering outbreaks of epidemics.

Speaking to Hawar News Agency, Hemûd El Hemadîn, an engineer and a member of the Tishrin Dam Board, said Turkey has cut the water flow of the Euphrates down to 180 cubic metres per second.

“The water level at the dam has dropped down another 4.5 metres recently,’ he said. “If it drops a further 70 cm, the dam will go out of production. In the meantime, the water level in the Euphrates has dropped another 6 metres recently.”

According to data provided by Hemûd El Hemadîn, 150 cubic metres of the 180 cubic metres of water received per second is used as fresh water and for irrigation.

He indicated that this has a negative impact on power production, and the hot summer months have made the situation even graver due to high evaporation rates.

Noting that there has recently been a 16-hour power cut, he said that power could now be provided only at certain intervals, adding that water shortages also caused sharp rises in agricultural production costs, and this in turn caused a rise in inflation.

He warned that many species in the Euphrates were in danger of extinction because of the fall in the water level and increasing pollution.

Delegates at the Water Forum criticised Turkey for its attempts to dominate its neighbours, Syria and Iraq, by holding back the water of the Euphrates and the Tigris in 22 separate dams and causing artificial water shortages in these two countries.

Haytham al-Sa’eed, owner of a shop selling solar panels in Shaddadi, south of Hasakah, said that the demand for solar power has become an option for the residents to supply electricity. 

He told North Press that the cost of the installation depends on the customer’s request regarding the number of panels he wants, as installing the solar panels with their equipment for the house now costs about a thousand dollars.      

The equipment consists of panels, batteries and a device that converts energy from the battery into electricity for the house.

The prices of solar panels vary according to capacity. For example, the panel that gives less than one ampere with a capacity of 285 watts, is sold for $75, according to the owner of the solar panel shop.  

The panel, which gives an ampere and a quarter of an ampere with a capacity of 400 watts, is sold for $105. 

Al-Sa’eed brings solar panels and their equipment from the city of Manbij and Sarmada, as he said. 

Due to the increasing rationing of electricity and despite the high costs, Bassam al-Turki, 30, a resident of Shaddadi, resorted to installing solar panels in his house to generate electricity.    

Al-Turki told North Press that he did not find any other options to supply electricity in his house even for hours, “in light of the high temperature, which reached more than 45 degrees.”

He pointed out that the cost of installing solar panels in his house amounted to more than three million Syrian pounds.

Electricity is supplied for Shaddadi and its countryside for three or four hours every two days, according to residents.   

The majority of the population relies on amperes and solar power installation to make up for the long hours of electricity rationing. 

Today on its official Facebook page, the Energy and Communication Office in the Jazira region said, “After a few days of improving the water supply, the Turkish occupation state returned to its hostile practices towards the peoples of northeastern Syria and reduced the water supply.”   

“Turkey has reduced the amount of water to less than 50% of the quota allocated to the dams according to international agreements, which causes the turbines to be stopped and thus, disconnect electricity from subscribers or reduce the number of hours,” the Energy and Communication Office added.   

Since mid-February, Turkey has blocked the water of the Euphrates River to Syria.

According to the agreement signed between Syria and Turkey related to the Euphrates River, “Syria’s share of the water coming from Turkey is 500 m³ per second, but now, only less than 200 m³ per second arrives,” according to officials at Tishrin Dam.

The Turkish state’s hostility to North and East Syria has been open and brazen for years, with several military interventions leading to the occupation of hundreds of square miles of Syrian territory, along with the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians and deaths of dozens. 

Most recently, media outlets around the world had reported on Turkey’s “Operation Peace Spring,” which targeted the areas around Ras-al-Ayn and Tal Abyad with occupation late in 2019. Despite this being the most recent Turkish military offensive, the Turkish war on North and East Syria has continued unabated through several means, including through the manipulation and weaponization of the region’s water supply. 

During the 2019 “Peace Spring” Offensive, pro-Turkish forces captured the Alouk water pumping station near Ras-al-Ayn. This station services hundreds of thousands of residents in North and East Syria, especially around Hasakah, and several camps that each house tens of thousands of refugees and displaced residents. In 2020 alone, the station has been shut off sixteen times, and when it is running, it is typically only at partial capacity. According to Heyva Sor, three pumps out of ten are currently being used.

The water levels of the Euphrates have dropped drastically due to the conduct of the forces in control of the Alouk station. This has affected both the amount of water available and the quality. Dozens of people have been hospitalized with illness due to drinking contaminated water, and thousands of families in the region have had to rely on trucks to deliver drinking water. 

The drop in water levels has led to the price of water skyrocketing by 200 percent or more in the past year, despite many families living on less than two dollars a day. Furthermore, much of the region’s electricity comes from hydroelectric dams, such as the Tishrin and Tabqa dams. Due to less water flow, the electricity supplied each day has been reduced from sixteen hours to eight. 

On top of all of this, the region is suffering from drought and lack of rainfall to begin with, and as such, the artificial tampering with the Euphrates water levels has an even greater effect.

When combined with the continuing depreciation of the Syrian lira, the COVID-19 pandemic, and embargoes by various neighboring states, the weaponization of water by Turkey has exacerbated an already crisis-stricken region, worsening the economic situation for Syria’s breadbasket, and placing the millions of Syrians already at great risk due to COVID-19 at an even greater risk with a lack of access to clean drinking water, as well as severely limiting the amount of electricity for the average household.

For the United States, the goal of the continued presence of American troops in Syria is to continue the partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces in order to permanently defeat Daesh, or ISIS. While the ISIS “caliphate” was militarily defeated in March 2019, and ISIS cells continue to be targeted and dismantled every week, military efforts alone will not be enough to destroy the ISIS organization and its ideology. 

ISIS was born largely out of instability and a power vacuum that resulted in a lack of security and basic services for the region. Severe economic issues such as the Turkish siege on North and East Syria’s water supply will act as counterproductive factors to the ongoing military campaign against ISIS and terrorism in general. Organizations such as these thrive on people’s dissatisfaction and lack of basic services, and as long as economic issues that affect people’s day-to-day lives, such as Turkey’s weaponization of water, are left unaddressed, they will continue to act as a counter-balance to the stability brought on by the anti-ISIS military campaign.

While this is happening, the international community has not lifted a finger, but rather continues to remain silent.

What is the purpose of humanitarian organizations when they do nothing? and what do human rights mean in this context? What is the benefit of their presence while they watch thousands of innocent children being deprived of their most basic rights? Is it not enough that they have suffered from poverty, disease, and displacement, and the negative impact of the war? Is it not enough that all of this has left a detrimental impact on their psyche and deprived them of living in peace?

Who is responsible for this?

The problem began with Turkey in the twenties of the last century, and discussions are still continuing between Iraq and Syria on the one hand, and Iraq and Turkey on the other, in order to find agreement on how to use the river waters without harming the interests of other countries.

A tripartite committee was set up in order to find a basis for establishing a fair sharing treaty. However, Turkey refuses to make any agreement for sharing water, ignoring international law, which stipulates that the river is considered international if its basin passes through the territories of different countries. In this case, each country practices its sovereignty in their own territories over which the river passes, taking into account the interests of other countries.

It is not permissible for any country to undertake any project on the river basin that would harm or infringe upon the rights of other States, which is one of the principles adopted by the International Court of Justice in Lahay in 1974 to resolve international disputes over water.

In this legal text it is emphasized that, “Any actions that lead to environmental damage in the riparian countries” are “prohibited”, yet Turkey invokes a justification for not having an agreement to share the water, instead of providing special explanations to the international law on sharing river water with the riparian countries.

Turkey refuses to include the Tigris and Euphrates basins within the concept of international rivers but considers them ‘cross-border’ rivers, which, as a concept, does not exist in name under international law. According to this concept, Turkey considers the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as water owned by the Turkish State and therefore has every right to act over them however they wish, denying the historical rights acquired thousands of years ago for both Iraq and Syria. Therefore, Turkey has begun planning and implementing many water projects on these rivers, ignoring the rights of neighboring countries.

Among these projects is the huge GAP project (the project of reviving the southeastern Anatolia region), which led to a decrease in the flow of the Euphrates water to Iraq by about 75%. The project faced rejections from both the Iraqi and Syrian sides, and the European Union stopped its funding because it will cause the destruction of archaeological areas within Turkey itself, as is what happened in the case of the city of Hasankeyf in Diyarbakir region near the border with Iraq. This project is considered an endeavour to build the Turkish economy – a mainstay to strengthen its geopolitical weight and power in the region and thus will impact various aspects of life in Iraq and Syria.

The impact of the Turkish water policy on Syria

For several years, Turkey has been cutting off water to the Syrian regions and depriving it of its share of the agreed water, with the aim of starving the Syrian people, destroying agricultural wealth and striking the Syrian economy. Turkey is still continuing its inhumane practices in the region through supporting its affiliated armed factions in Serekani (Ras al-Ain), while cutting off water on the city of Hassaka and its western countryside.

Turkey targets and forbids workers from operating “Alouk” water pumping station in the countryside of Serekani, which is the main source of feeding the city of Hassaka and its countryside, the towns of Abu Rassen, Tal Tamr, Shaddadi, and Al-Hol camp. This camp houses 62,000 displaced people, in addition to the Washokani camp, which houses about 12,000 displaced people and Areesheh camp which is inhabited by about 13,000 displaced people.
It is worth noting that it’s not the first time that Alouk station has been stopped. It has already been stopped for several reasons, including the shelling of Turkish artillery, the power being cut off, or the station workers being prevented from entering it. However, an agreement was reached on restarting the station to return to work on 17th December, 2020, several months before before the crisis.

Turkey continues its inhumane violations, as it’s currently working to confine the river’s water for more than five meters from its level, as four meters reach the Tishreen Dam lake, and in the Euphrates Dam lake, the decline is more than three meters. The quantity is less than what was agreed between Syria and Turkey in 1987, which is 500 cubic meters per second to the Syrian territories, while Iraq gets about 60% of this amount.

Consequently, the decline of water in the Euphrates River caused the suspension of 7 drinking water stations in the western and eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, as the stations of Al-Sa`wa, Al-Buseyrah, Al-Riz, Sweidan, Hajin and Al-Susah stopped working.

Water confinement threatens thousands of hectares of agricultural land planted with summer vegetables, while the region witnesses a heatwave that leads to damaging crops due to prioritizing thirst, in line with the difficult living conditions in those areas.

The low level of water in the riverbed, especially in the summer months, leads to the death of fish and other organisms such as shellfish, and the dead bodies also cause organic pollution as well as economic losses.

In Raqqa governorate, there are several drinking water stations that depend directly on the Euphrates River to supply water to the population. They are the Al-Raqqa station near the city, Al-Jazra station in its western countryside, and a third station in the Karama area, east of Raqqa.

Day after day, the risk of environmental pollution increases in areas where water drop is causing diseases, especially for children, such as typhoid fever, enteritis, and diarrhoea, and some cases may have developed into cholera.

The impact of Turkish water policy on Iraq

The confinement of the water of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers did not affecte Syria only, but also Iraq, so the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources announced that the Turkish side had reduced the levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to half, which led to decline of the level of two rivers inside Iraq, in conjunction with Iran cutting a number of important river tributaries by diverting their natural course.

The goal behind Turkish control of water resources

Turkey and Iran are using water as a weapon against humanity, using it to bargain over the lives of millions of civilians, putting extra pressure on the region, and putting it under their control. Turkey’s water policy is linked to the political decision of the State and found in the water paper a means to achieve its political and economic ambition to become a major regional power in the Middle East region.

Its construction of dams has a severe impact on the region and the environment and will cause a lot of defects on both Syria and Iraq as well as Iran, as the project will lead to the destruction of agricultural lands, drought, and power outages as a result of the inability to generate electricity from Iraqi and Syrian dams, and death of fish and livestock, desertification, as well as dust and air pollution.

Therefore, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross must fulfill their tasks which allows it to be present in the field of work and act without delay, to rectify the difficulties because the nature of these conflicts urges them to increase their initiatives and find appropriate solutions, fast.

On this basis, the International Committee work is indispensable for helping the population impacted by the armed violence, as well as for the departments concerned with repairing damaged water installations and providing technical expertise when necessary because the survival of these residents and operating their production system depends on water.

It’s the responsibility of the United Nations, international committees, and humanitarian and human rights organizations to put an end to the practices of the Turkish State in Syria and Iraq, and to intervene urgently to find a solution to this unfortunate humanitarian catastrophe.

Zeyneb Haji
Member of the Diplomatic Relations Committee, Kongra Star

“Turkey has been cutting water to Rojava Dam (formerly Tishrin) for four months forcing the administration of the dam to implement power rationing system,” Muhammad Khan Ali, co-chair of Kobani Electricity Directorate, said.

Despite the decreasing water level, the city of Kobani witnesses about 12 hours of electricity, while the villages witnesses about eight hours on daily basis, according to Khan Ali.

“Industrialists are the most affected as a result of the rationing process, especially that they used to maintain harvesters, agricultural machinery and cars during this period of the year,” he noted.   

“Additionally, hospitals, bakeries, and grain grinders are forced to operate generators permanently,” Khan Ali stated.   

The official called on international community and humanitarian organization to put pressure on Turkey in order not to control Euphrates water.

For more than three months, Turkey has limited the flow of the Euphrates into Syria, depriving large numbers of people of usable water. Turkey reduced the flow of water from the Euphrates River into northeast Syria’s dam gradually, reducing the amount of water received to unprecedented lows.

Turkey keeps water in six dams, the largest of which is Ataturk Dam, the second largest in the Middle East, with a storage capacity of 48 billion m³, violating the international agreement they signed with Syria in 1987 which stated that Syria’s share of water coming from Turkey is 500 m³ per second.

The water flow to the Euphrates River is now limited to less than 200 cubic meters, according to the General Administration of Dams in Northeastern Syria.

The office added, in a post on its Facebook page, that the water supply from the Turkish side began to decrease from mid-October until now, describing it as “almost non-existent.”

Turkey limits Euphrates water flow into Syria, depriving hundreds of usable waters. Turkey reduced the flow of water from the Euphrates River into northeast Syria’s dam for a period of two months since the beginning of May, gradually reducing the amount of water received in early June to unprecedented levels.

After that, the administration of the Tishreen Dam, the largest hydroelectric station in Syria, warned, at the beginning of this week, of Turkey’s continued confinement of the water of the Euphrates River within its territory, which would negatively affect the economy of society and general food security, and provide drinking water to the citizen.

Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) called on the United Nations, the Syrian, and Iraqi governments to “put pressure on Turkey, regarding the clear violation of international charters and laws, towards dealing with regional waters.”

International agreements acknowledge that the amount of water supplies to the Syrian side should not be less than 500 m³/s, but Turkey has reduced the Syrian share of the Euphrates water on several occasions during the past years.

Civil and human rights organizations have previously accused Turkey of weaponing water and electricity against Syria’s Autonomous Administration areas.

Energy and Communications Office in the Jazira region announced last Tuesday that there is a 25 percent reduction in the generation of electrical dams.

The office added that the eviction rates increased on the lines feeding the neighborhoods and villages transformers by more than 50 percent.

[Jazira] relies mainly on the Swediyah station in the countryside of Derik and the quantities of electricity received from the Euphrates Dam, located near the city of Tabqa in northeastern Syria.