Turkish strikes in Syria cut water to one million people

Source: BBC

Turkish strikes in Syria cut water to one million people

19 November 2024

Namak Khoshnaw, Christopher Giles and Saphora Smith
BBC Eye, World Service

Turkish air strikes in drought-struck north-east Syria have cut off access to electricity and water for more than a million people, in what experts say may be a violation of international law.

Turkey carried out more than 100 attacks between October 2019 and January 2024 on oil fields, gas facilities and power stations in the Kurdish-held Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), according to data collated by the BBC World Service.

The attacks have added to the humanitarian crisis in a region reeling from a years-long civil war and four years of extreme drought exacerbated by climate change.

Water had already been scarce, but attacks on electricity infrastructure in October last year shut off power to the region’s main water station, in Alouk, and it has not been working since. On two visits there, the BBC witnessed people struggling to get water.

Turkey said it had targeted the “sources of income and capabilities” of Kurdish separatist groups it regards as terrorists.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79zj7rz3l4o