Farmers abandon their farms and seek to emigrate
Drought threatens Syria due to the decline in the level of the Euphrates River and political skirmishes
The lack of water has dried up the agricultural land.
AFP
A technician measures the water level along the Tishreen Dam wall.
AFP
An aerial view of the Tabqa dam on the Euphrates River in Raqqa Governorate, eastern Syria, where water quantities are decreasing.
AFP
High voltage electricity towers affected significantly.
AFP
picture
The waters of the Euphrates have always revived the olive grove owned by Khaled al-Khamis, in northern Syria, but since the beginning of the year the flow of the river has decreased and its water has dried up over a large area, so its trees have dried up and it has become difficult for him to even secure drinking water for his family.
In the village of Rumaila, in the northern province of Aleppo, Khaled, 50, told AFP, "It is as if we are living in a desert... We even want to move and are thinking of emigrating because there is no water to drink or to irrigate trees."
For months, experts, technicians and humanitarian organizations have been warning of a catastrophe in northern and northeastern Syria, where the Euphrates River passes, that might threaten the functioning of its dams, as the decline in the water level in them, since January, would lead to water and electricity cuts to millions of residents, and thus increase The suffering of a people drained by a decade-long conflict and severe economic collapse.
Instead of tending to olive fields, Khaled and the villagers today grow corn and cowpeas on land from which the river has dried up.
Khaled, who has 12 children, says: "The women walk seven kilometers to fill drinking water bottles for the children."
In the areas threatened by drought and under the control of the Kurdish Autonomous Administration, many accuse Turkey of preventing water and using it as a weapon against Kurdish fighters, whom it considers "terrorists", which was denied by a Turkish diplomatic source, and attributed the causes of drought to climate change, which the United Nations warned, in a recent report, of It will lead to "unprecedented" disasters in a world hit by successive heat waves and floods.
In 1987, Syria signed a water-sharing agreement with Turkey, according to which Ankara pledged to provide Syria with an annual rate of 500 cubic meters per second, but this amount has decreased by more than half during the past months, and at certain times reached 200 cubic meters per second, according to technicians.
dead level
The Euphrates River, the longest river in West Asia, originates from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, and flows from it to Syria from the city of Jarablus in the northern countryside of Aleppo, passing through Raqqa Governorate in the north, and from there to Deir ez-Zor in the east, all the way to Iraq.
From Turkey to Syria and Iraq, the river covers 2,800 km. It meets in Iraq with the Tigris River to form the Shatt al-Arab, before emptying into the waters of the Gulf.
In Syria, two main dams were built on the Euphrates River, namely the Tishreen Dam in the northern countryside of Aleppo, and the Tabqa dam, where the huge Assad Lake is located in the eastern countryside of Raqqa.
The dam covers 90% of the electricity needs of northeastern Syria, including the current needed for water pumping stations, and the decline in the water level today threatens their work.
Tishreen Dam director for 13 years, Hammoud Al Hammadien, warns of a “historic and terrifying drop” in the water level that the dam has not witnessed since its construction in 1999.
Since December, the water level in the dam has decreased by five metres, and if it continues to decline, it will reach what the Hammadites described as the “dead level,” which means that the “turbines will completely stop working.”
In addition to the decline in the region's electricity supply, several water pumping stations have stopped working, according to Al-Hammadiyin, who warned that the low water level threatens to increase the rate of pollution and endanger the fish wealth. "We are heading towards a humanitarian and environmental disaster," he says.
In the Tabqa dam, the water level in Lake Al-Assad decreased by about five meters, and is now approaching the dead level as well.
In the whole of northeastern Syria, electricity production has decreased by 70%, because the Tishreen and Tabqa dams are not working as required, according to what the official of the Energy Authority in Northeast Syria, Lat Darwish, told AFP.
water weapon
In Syria, the Euphrates passes, most of it in areas under the control of the Kurdish Autonomous Administration, and its military arm is the Syrian Democratic Forces backed by Washington, but it is a main opponent of Turkey, which classifies its most prominent components, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, as a “terrorist” group.
Since 2016, Ankara and Syrian factions loyal to it have launched three military attacks in Syria targeting Kurdish fighters.
The Autonomous Administration accuses Ankara of obstructing the flow of the Euphrates River into Syria, and of using water as a weapon to pressure it. Damascus also accused Turkey, which since the beginning of the conflict has supported parties in the Syrian opposition, of impounding the Euphrates' waters, and of not adhering to the agreement signed in 1987.
However, a Turkish diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse that his country "has never attempted to reduce the water flow rate, for political or any other reasons." It has been raining for at least 30 years” this year in southern Turkey.
The researcher on Syrian affairs, Nicholas Heras, doubts Turkey’s intention to use the Euphrates River as a weapon for its benefit, as this would complicate its relations with the United States that supports the Kurds and its ally on a larger scale, and with Russia, the most prominent supporter of Damascus, but at the same time its partner in several truce agreements. In syria.
Heras says that "the easiest water weapon that Ankara has used repeatedly is the Alouk station," located in an area under its control since 2019.
The United Nations has counted the water cut off from the Allouk station 24 times since 2019, which is reflected in the lives of 460,000 people who benefit from it in Al-Hasakah Governorate.
Even if the disaster that threatens northern and northeastern Syria is caused by the decrease in the level of rain, Turkey is able to take advantage of the matter for its geopolitical interests, according to what the expert on Syrian affairs believes, Fabrice Balanche.
"During periods of drought, Turkey uses what it needs of water and leaves the waste for the Kurds, although it is fully aware of the repercussions," he says, adding that the goal is "to strangle northeastern Syria economically."
It is likely that Syria is facing a drought that may last for years, which it has not witnessed since its last drought between 2005 and 2010.
He says, "In the coming years, farmers will have to reduce the cultivated areas," warning that all of Syria "will witness a food shortage, and it will have to import huge quantities of grain."
Wim Zvenenberg, from the Dutch NGO "Pax" for peace, returns the level of the Euphrates River in Syria to huge agricultural projects set by the Turkish government, and climate change has exacerbated the situation.
In the nineties, Turkey launched huge agricultural projects in the south of the country, and today, due to the decline in rainfall, it has to do the impossible to preserve the same quantities of water needed for irrigation projects, and the solution may lie in a large exploitation of river water.
"The drought is inevitably coming," Zvenenberg says, noting that satellite images show the "rapid decline in healthy agricultural growth" in Syria and Turkey.
A report issued this month by climate experts at the United Nations blamed humans “unequivocally” for the climatic disturbances that hit the world and threaten it more, including heat waves and droughts.
The United Nations has warned that droughts will become longer and more severe around the Mediterranean.
In 2019, the Global Crisis Index ranked Syria as the country most at risk of drought in the Mediterranean region.
Diseases and thirst
In the eastern countryside of Raqqa, the shrinkage of Lake Al-Assad, the largest artificial lake in Syria, has become the biggest concern of Tabqa dam workers on the one hand and farmers on the other.
Engineer Khaled Shaheen, who has been working in the Tabqa dam for 22 years, told AFP, "We are trying to reduce the amount of water that passes through the dams to get out with the least possible losses."
He explains: "If the situation continues in this way, it is possible that we will stop generating electricity, and only feed bakeries, mills and hospitals."
On the shores of Lake Lion, workers are busy repairing electric generators that have run out of water.
Farmer Hussein Saleh Al-Ali (56 years old), from the neighboring village of Al-Twehina, complains about the increased costs of pumping water. “The olive trees are thirsty and the animals are hungry,” he says, adding: “After the water level decreased, we could no longer afford the expenses of hoses and generators for drawing water.”
The electricity cuts now touch 19 hours a day in his village, while the water of a river running near his village is polluted.
More than five million people depended on the river to provide clean drinking water, but most of the stations that used to treat and purify water are either working intermittently or have stopped completely.
The residents now have to buy water from private tanks, which are filled from the Euphrates River, but without purification, at a time when sewage water accumulates and pollution increases.
A coalition of organizations working in northeastern Syria warned of the spread of diseases resulting from water pollution in the governorates of Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, while the contaminated water of ice factories caused diarrhea in the camps for the displaced.
Farmer Hussein Saleh Al-Ali says: "People are forced to drink contaminated water, which has led to an increase in diseases among the villagers."
food shortage
The decline in the level of the Euphrates threatens “the rural communities on its banks, which depend mainly on agriculture and irrigation,” according to the Syrian expert in environmental security, Marwa Daoudi.
The drought, according to humanitarian organizations, has affected large agricultural areas that depend mainly on rainwater, in a country where 60% of the population suffers from food insecurity.
The United Nations reported that barley production could decline by 1.2 million tons this year, making it difficult to secure feed for animals in the next few months.
In Iraq, too, the Norwegian Refugee Council has warned that a reduced flow of the Euphrates could deprive seven million people of water.
"The climate does not take into account borders," said council spokesman Karl Schembri.
• Since December, the water level in the Tishreen Dam has decreased by five metres, and if it continues to decline, it will reach what the Hammadites described as a “dead level,” which means that the “turbines will completely stop working.”
• In 1987, Syria signed a water-sharing agreement with Turkey, according to which Ankara pledged to provide Syria with an annual rate of 500 cubic meters per second, but this amount fell to more than half during the past months, and at certain times reached 200 cubic meters per second, according to technicians.
• The United Nations has counted the water cut off from the Allouk station 24 times since 2019, affecting the lives of 460,000 people in Al-Hasakah.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news