Northeast Syria: Turkish Strikes Disrupt Water, Electricity

(Beirut, October 26, 2023) – Drone strikes by Turkish Armed Forces on Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria between October 5 and 10, 2023, damaged critical infrastructure and resulted in water and electricity disruptions for millions of people, Human Rights Watch said today.

The strikes on more than 150 locations in north and east Syria in the governorates of al-Hasakeh, Raqqa, and Aleppo, killed dozens of people including civilians, and damaged civilian structures, civic groups said. The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which governs the targeted areas, confirmed that the attacks on water and electrical power stations, resulted in the “complete cutoff of electricity and water supply” from al-Hasakeh governorate. Critical oil installations and the only operational gas plant for domestic use in northeast Syria were also damaged by the attacks. In the city of al-Hasakeh, an ongoing water dispute since Turkey’s 2019 invasion of parts of northern Syria has already been jeopardizing the right to water for nearly a million people, including residents and displaced communities.