Syria urges intl. pressure on Turkish forces to stop cutting off water supply to Hasakah city

Damascus has called for international pressure on the Turkish occupation forces to stop cutting off access to drinking water through the Alouk water pumping station in Hasakah city and its suburbs.

In a statement on Sunday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Turkish forces have once again cut off access to drinking water, which is pumped from the Alouk station, in Hasakah city and its suburbs for over 16 consecutive days, affecting over one million Syrians despite the critical health situation associated with the coronavirus pandemic, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

The ministry reiterated its strong condemnation of the repeated criminal practices by Turkish forces and called on international organizations, especially the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to shed light on such violations and their catastrophic impacts on the Syrian people.

These repeated brutal practices have exceeded 23 times since October 2019, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said, adding that such actions are in violation of the provisions of international law.

The statement also said that Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Bashar al-Jaafari summoned on Sunday morning the representatives of the UN Resident Coordinator and UN agencies operating in Syria and the representative of the ICRC in Syria and informed them of the seriousness of the matter.

Al-Jaafari also called on them to immediately travel to New York and Geneva in order to stop such “unjustified Turkish escalation” towards the Syrian citizens in Hasakah province, it added.

In a statement on Thursday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the military presence of the US and Turkey on the Syrian soil and demanded their immediate withdrawal from the Arab country.

Back in February, Damascus accused Ankara of aiming to support terrorist groups such as Daesh (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra to serve Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's personal agendas and to “achieve his ambitions and Ottoman illusions.

The Turkish military presence is regarded in Syria as an attack against the war-torn country’s sovereignty.

Turkey has been involved militarily in the Syrian conflict since early 2011. It has provided the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) with military assistance throughout the conflict.

In 2018 and 2019, Turkey launched cross-border military operations in northern Syria with the declared aim of eliminating Syrian Kurdish militants of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkey has since taken control of several areas in northern Syria in addition to other Kurdish-controlled areas.

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