Sixty percent of Syria’s water comes from sources outside the borders, which makes the control and management process subject to many external factors, he said during his speech at the Fifth Arab Water Forum in the United Arab Emirates.

He denounced that Turkish forces deployed in Syria are disrupting the operation of a water plant that supplies one million inhabitants in the northeastern region of the country.

This measure is inhumane and causes severe suffering of the population facing drought, summer heat and the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

He deplored that Ankara also reduced the water flow in the Euphrates River to Syria to less than half the amount of water stipulated in the signed protocol, causing damage to the agricultural areas usually benefiting from this river flow.

This worsens social vulnerability, hinders development and the return of displaced people to their villages and towns, and threatens, as the minister denounced, more than three million people with being left without drinking water.

Raad called for cooperation and coordination among Arab countries in the field of international waters and the promotion of integration to achieve water security.

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