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Water used as a weapon of war
On August 22, 2016, Maher Ghafari of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported on the water situation in Aleppo during the occupation of East Aleppo by terrorist groups including Al Qaeda, which ended in December 2016. He confirmed that Aleppo gets its water from the Euphrates River, which is pumped through four pipelines in a water plant, then under the control of an armed terrorist group. Water destined for the city of Aleppo is then re-pumped through three pumping stations: one then controlled by the government, and two by different armed terrorist groups.
All through the conflict in Syria, water was used as a weapon of war. Sometimes the terrorists would simply shut the water valves tight, and hold the lives of thirsty civilians hostage. At other times, the terrorists would bomb the pumps or the water station. During the war years, the water-maintenance crews were prevented from staying or repairing facilities.
Today, the war is over, the terrorists have left, and the only Al Qaeda-occupied area is Idlib, but the damages to water infrastructure have never been reconstructed because of the US-EU sanctions that prohibit the importation of materials that can be used to repair or reconstruct government infrastructure.
US-EU sanctions kill Syrian civilians and prevent reconstruction
The US-NATO attack on Syria for 'regime change' failed, but the collective punishment of an entire nation caused most to support the Damascus government, as it was seen as the only source of basic services and stability.
According to the UN, nearly two-thirds of water-treatment plants, half of the pumping stations, and one-third of water towers have been damaged by more than a decade of war.
Last winter, Syrians died in their homes without heating, while snow drifts lay on the streets of Aleppo, Hama, and Damascus. Diesel fuel is used in Syria for home heating, but it is expensive and often in short supply because of the US occupation of the oil wells in the northeast, and the US sanctions preventing importing fuels. Most Syrians get about one hour of electricity because the fuel used to generate electricity is taken by the US troops.
The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, a law signed by President Donald Trump, has brought starvation, darkness, plague, misery, robbery, kidnappings, and the destruction of a nation. International aid no longer reaches Syria to the extent it did previously because many charities fear being hit with penalties from the severe US sanctions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Syrians suffered shortages of oxygen and basic medical supplies due to the crippling sanctions.
According to Hasan Ismaik, a Jordanian writer, "No Syrian children under the age of 10 have ever seen their country at peace. And if they remain starved and deprived of basic medical care in a country with no economic opportunities, they could eventually become the foot soldiers of a new terrorism outbreak in the Middle East."
Richard N. Haass, a US foreign policy expert, wrote in 1998 "Economic Sanctions: Too Much of a Bad Thing." He wrote that US sanctions often have no effect on the target, and Congress and the White House need to have rigorous oversight of the sanctions, which are doomed to fail if the desired results are large and require limited time.
Haass further warned that secondary sanctions, such as going after foreign nations who might send goods to Syria for rebuilding, make matters worse. He prophetically added that sanctions hurt innocent civilians, which will bolster authoritarian governments and trigger large-scale emigration.
The US-EU sanctions do have humanitarian exemptions for food and medicine. However, Elizabeth Hoff, former WHO director in Damascus, said that many medical machines in Syrian hospitals lay in disrepair, needing parts from Europe or the US, but the foreign companies will not sell the parts to Syria because the paperwork surrounding the exemption is so costly and time-consuming it is not worth it.
Migration caused by sanctions
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