Fears of security breakdown at IS camp as Turkey interrupts Kurds’ water supplies

Fears of security breakdown at IS camp as Turkey interrupts Kurds’ water supplies
Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria. It houses tens of thousands of families of Islamic State fighters. / Y. Boechat (VOA).
By bne IntellIiNews March 6, 2020

The US and UN are reportedly attempting to defuse a crisis in which a standoff between Turkey and the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria over the provision of water and electricity could lead to a breakdown in security at al-Hol camp, which houses tens of thousands of families of Islamic State (IS) fighters.

Since February, the US-backed Kurdish government has accused Turkey of periodically cutting off water provided by Alok pumping station in the Turkish-occupied town of Ras al-Ain to Hasakah region where al-Hol (aka al-Hawl) is located. 

Ziyad Rustem, co-chair for electricity in the autonomous administration, described the erratic water supply situation to the Rojava Information Center, a newsgathering body in northeastern Syria. He claimed Turkey closed the spigot on the flow because it was insisting that the Kurdish-led administration deliver 25 megawatts of electricity per hour from its own sources to Ras al-Ain in exchange for the water, despite an original agreement mediated by Russia with Turkey for the provision of just five megawatts per hour.

“Dirty and unethical”

“Water should not be used as a bargaining chip. This is dirty and unethical. As a matter of humanity we will provide electricity, but Turkey should fix the [power] lines they destroyed themselves,” Rustem was quoted as saying.

“Service delivery and security are intertwined and there is a lot of concern that sustained water shortages could spark off protests in al-Hol, where the security situation is fragile,” Al-Monitor on March 5 quoted a source as saying, adding that IS women internees have in the past attacked and injured camp guards and rioted.

The publication further cited the source as stating that defusing the crisis has become a priority for the US, which still has around 700 troops deployed in northeastern Syria, and the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs.

Alok was badly damaged during Turkey’s October invasion of Ras al-Ain and neighbouring Tell Abyad in pursuit of US-allied Kurdish militia that it describes as “terrorists” who back the Kurdish insurgency effort in southeastern Turkey. A technical team from the Syrian government responsible for maintaining the water facility, which supplies around 460,000 people, has reportedly been repeatedly denied access to it, most recently on March 3.

Dependent on Kurds for power

Mabrouka power station, which serviced Ras al-Ain, was knocked out during the October fighting. That left Turkey dependent on the Kurds for electricity.

Turkey, occupying a large swathe of land between Tell Abyad and Ras al-Ain, needs to provide services but as a source quoted by Al-Monitor concluded: “They aren’t going to bring electricity from Turkey and the networks are all linked to other parts of northeastern Syria that they don’t have control over. It’s quite easy for the Kurdish-run administration, who sees Turkey as the enemy—and doesn’t want Turkey to legitimise their occupation and to establish themselves as a state in control of the area—to say, ‘No, we are not going to help you provide electricity and make everyone think you are this functional administration,’ and so they’ve blocked that.

“I think Turkey has clearly been facing discontent from the populations in the areas that it's controlling and it’s taken this really drastic measure and said, ‘OK, we are going to shut off the water if you don’t give us access to the electricity.’

“The Americans have tried to negotiate with Turkey, telling them that ‘You as a Nato ally should turn it back on,’ and Turkey has said, ‘You need to tell the Kurds to give us electricity.’”

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