Lethal Weapon: New Generation of Warfare

 


War by definition is known as a battle between two or several parties, either in a battle in a specific place, or on the ground of one of the parties to the conflict, as happened in ancient times.

Until the Cold War came and revealed new forms of war, such as proxy wars or a war by racing to obtain more deadly and advanced weapons (Nuclear weapons), or reaching points before your enemy, as in the case of reaching space

In the year 2011 the crisis began in Syria, where the external parties in the crisis used almost all kinds of weapons and some of them tried their new weapons on Syrian territory.

External parties applied all kinds of known warfare or new forms in it, such as what Turkey is doing by using water as a weapon, and thirst as a modern kind of war against the Kurds in particular and the Syrians in general.

Water is the basis of life on our planet, and life on the planet does not continue without water, as all creatures need water to survive, and it is known that early civilizations existed alongside places where water was available, where water was used in all aspects of life, including irrigation, trade, construction and transportation.


Euphrates River


One of the longest rivers in the Middle East, which originates from Turkey and enters into Syria, was a point of conflict between the two countries. An international agreement was signed between Syria and Turkey. The two parties agreed on the amount of water that will enter the Syrian lands, which is estimated at 500 cubic meters of water.

The most important dams in Syria were built on this river, which supplies several provinces in Syria with drinking and irrigation water, as agriculture is one of the main resources in the Syrian economy, in addition to the largest power plant that supplies millions in Syria with electricity.


Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria 

Turks have always viewed the Kurds as enemies, and their statehood threatens Turkey's existence. The crisis in Syria greatly served the Kurds, as the Kurds exploited the deteriorating situation and the weakness of the Syrian state in order to establish influence in the Kurdish areas in Syria.

Autonomous Administration in Syria, which calls for the establishment of a region that transcends pluralism and includes all ethnicities and nationalities, submits to Autonomous Administration large areas in northern and eastern Syria with a Kurdish majority, and these lands include the Euphrates River and the dam that provides water and electricity.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria and Turkey has supported the rebels against the Syrian state, in addition to its control over areas that were subject to Autonomous Administration with the help of these rebellions, as Turkey opposes Autonomous Administration and sees its presence as a threat to it.

Turkey entered the conflict with the Autonomous Administration by launching a massive war on the lands under their controls, and transformed them into areas of own influence in the Syrian conflict and established its schools in them and pumped its collapsing currency into this area.


Turkish War on the Kurds

The roots of the Turkish-Kurdish differences come from the armed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey sees as the one who supports the Autonomous Administration in Syria.

Through these accusations, the Turkish forces and the rebels loyal to them invaded the Afrin region and turned it into a Turkish colony, in which many civilians were killed in this attack in addition to displacing half of the region's population.

Last year, the Turkish army and the rebel army supported by them attacked large areas on the border strip with the Autonomous Administration and led to the imposition of Turkish control over large areas extending from Ras al-Ain to Gire Spi.

The result of the war is displacement of thousands of civilians and the killings of hundreds of innocent people. Also, control of the lifeline in the area which supplies about one million people with water, according to the reports of the United Nations.


Water War

Since the Turks took control of Ras al-Ain, they have been threatening to cut off water from the areas that derive water from that predominantly Kurdish city, and have put pressure on the Autonomous Administration for the sake of Turkish interests and their rebel allies.

United Nations reports say that Turkey is preventing repairs in the water station and threatening to cut off water to nearly a million people in the region. This makes life almost impossible in those areas, and pressures push them to displace to other autonomous areas or to neighboring countries such as the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

This summer, Turkey decided to reduce the water level of the Euphrates River, which supplies more than 3 million residents of the Autonomous Administration areas with water, which led to an imminent humanitarian disaster, preventing water from millions of residents of the region.

Turkey and its rebels cut off water to nearly a million people in the city of Hasaka for a month, which contradicts international agreements and the Syrian-Turkish agreement on the percentage of the Euphrates water.

Turkey turned a blind eye to these agreements and exercised the ugliest forms of pressure on the region’s residents, especially the Kurds.


Consequences of Water Deprivation

According to international news agencies, Turkey has built new dams on the course of the Euphrates River and prevents water from Syrian lands, which will lead to depriving Syrians of water in addition to depriving them of electricity, which depends on the station located in the Euphrates Dam in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Regarding the electricity, which since the beginning of the crisis in Syria and the whole country complains of a lack of electricity supply, and the population gets a number of hours determined by the party that controls the stations for its part.

Autonomous Administration stated that the hours of electricity that it supplies to its areas of control will be reduced by half due to the inability of the plant to generate electricity due to water cuts.

Agriculture raises the alarm bell. Residents of Autonomous Administration areas depend heavily on agriculture and this water irrigates large areas of the area and is the main source of income, and this deprivation will seriously affect their presence in the region.


Invisible Intentions

Turkey and its rebel allies insist on expelling the Kurds from their areas of control and strengthening their presence in northern Syria through repeated military operations or through cutting off water and depriving civilians of water.

Some researchers believe that Turkey, through these practices, seeks to ethnic cleanse the Kurdish-majority region by putting pressure on self-administration, displacing civilians and replacing them with the families of its rebels.

Also, the Turkish president said in a speech to the United Nations about Turkey's intention to resettle Arabs living as refugees in Turkey in areas that the Kurds evacuate due to military operations or other pressures exerted by Turkey and its rebels.

 

Written by- Abduljalil Hage

Edited by – Adrija Saha