Water War? Turkey Cuts Water Supply to Syria. Euphrates Shut Down
Western hostilities toward Syria reached a new level of viciousness. Al-Akahbar English reports:
“The Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis. Al-Akahbar found out that the water level in Lake Assad has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking water.” Suhaib Anjarini, Al Akahbar, May 30
The water cutoff by the Turkish government caused Lake Assad to drop six feet threatening two million people in and around Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city. The Euphrates originates in Turkey and also provides a critical water source for Iraq.
Turkey, a NATO member, is strongly opposed to the current government of Syria. The Turkish border to Syria is a major supply route for weapons and foreign fighters against the Syrian government.
Along with China and Brunei, Turkey refused to sign the United Nation’s agreement on International Watercourses. The agreement calls for the “equitable and reasonable” sharing of rivers, wither they originate or flow into a nation. In addition, the agreement states that nations shall “take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm.”
Syria and Iraq have claimed Turkish manipulation of the Euphrates as far back as 1975. Syria and Iraq argue that years of drought conditions are the result of Turkish water policy. The outright cutoff of the Euphrates by the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan represents a Turkish act of aggression against both Syria and Iraq.
The Turkish propaganda machine is gearing up to blame the water crisis on ISIS, an Al Qaeda affiliated Syrian rebel group.( Suhaib Anjarini, Al Akahbar, May 30)
Watch closely how the U.S. State Department handles this crisis. If we’re told that Syrian rebels are to blame, that’s a red light that NATO is creating a false flag to justify the Holy Grail of NATO military action against the Syrian government. Hopefully, the U.S. and other nations call this what it is — a human rights abuse of epic proportions committed by an unstable autocrat, Turkish PM Erdogan, at the head of a major NATO nation.