Life at 50°C: Our Water, Their War
After drought and conflict left more than a million people without access to water in north east Syria, this film follows the engineers and tanker drivers trying to get water to those needing it most.
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The consequences of the conflict have been compounded by climate change.
Since 2020, an extreme and exceptional agricultural drought has gripped north-east Syria and parts of Iraq.
Over the past 70 years the average temperature in the Tigris-Euphrates basin has risen by 2C (36F), according to European climate data.
The Khabour river once supplied Hassakeh with water, but levels became too low and people were forced to turn to the Alouk water station.
But in 2019, Turkey took control of the Ras Al-Ain area, where Alouk is situated, saying it needed to establish a “safe zone” to protect the country from what it described as terrorist attacks.
Two years after this, the UN raised concerns about repeated disruption of the water supply from Alouk to north-east Syria, saying the water supply had been interrupted at least 19 times.
And in February 2024 a report published by an independent UN commission said the October 2023 attacks on electricity infrastructure could amount to war crimes because they deprived civilians of access to water.