Euphrates in Northeastern Syria Turns into ‘River of Death’

Oil waste can be seen in the al-Rad valley. (PAX)
Oil waste can be seen in the al-Rad valley. (PAX)
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Euphrates in Northeastern Syria Turns into ‘River of Death’

Oil waste can be seen in the al-Rad valley. (PAX)
Oil waste can be seen in the al-Rad valley. (PAX)

Is Ankara using the Euphrates River as a weapon against its Kurdish rivals in northeastern Syria? Is the Kurdish autonomous administration east of the Euphrates using the issue to rally support against Ankara? Is it true that the river, which was once a symbol of life, has now been transformed into a “river of death” due to pollution from oil leaking into its stream?

Damascus and Ankara had signed in 1987 a temporary agreement over sharing the Euphrates water. They agreed that Turkey would get some 500 square meters of water per second. In another agreement with Baghdad in the 1990s, Ankara would allow at least 58 percent of the water to reach Iraq.

Over the decades, the waters of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers were often a point of contention between Syria, Iraq and Turkey. Damascus had allegedly bolstered its relations with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, for many reasons, including maintaining the “water file” that it would use as a main negotiations card against Ankara. The flow of the water has become essential for Turkey as many of its major projects hinge on it.

The Euphrates begins in Turkey, passes through Syria and ends in Iraq where it empties in the Gulf. The amount of water shares each country is entitled to has become a point of contention between them. During better days, Ankara used to inform Damascus through diplomatic channels of its plans to fill up its dams in southeastern Turkey. Syria would, in turn, take the necessary arrangements. It has built three major dams on the Euphrates for storing of water and electricity generation.

After 2012, circumstances began to change. Turkey now believes that the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern and northeastern Syria would pose a strategic threat to it. Damascus, which enjoyed alliance with Kurdish forces, now looks at them with great suspicion, especially after their growing relations with the anti-ISIS coalition led by the United States. Relations frayed even further with the emergence of ISIS in 2014 and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces’ spearheading of operations against it with US backing.

The divide with Damascus grew even wider after the establishment of a Kurdish autonomous administration east of the Euphrates. This also sparked major tensions with Ankara, which turned to Moscow, without informing Damascus, to strike understandings to block Kurdish expansion in Syria.

The latest developments have seen the Kurdish autonomous administration accuse Ankara of deliberately lowering the flow of the Euphrates water. The director of the dams, Mohammed Tarboush, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The Turks are using the water as a weapon against us.”

“They allow the water to flow when our lakes are full so that we are unable to benefit from the flow to generate power and irrigate lands,” he explained. “They block the flow when we most need it.”

An informed Syrian source shared a different view. He said Ankara was not using the water as a “weapon”, saying Turkey was respecting agreements and allowing the flow accordingly. The Syrian authorities are being informed of the dam filling schedule as usual.

The Kurds are using the water file for propaganda purposes, like they do with other issues, he charged.

A Kurdish official speculated that Ankara may have informed Damascus that it was lowering the flow, “which raises questions about whether they are working against us.”

‘River of Death’
Meanwhile, Dutch nongovernmental organization PAX released a report this week on the pollution of the Euphrates River. Entitled “River of Death”, the report shed light on ongoing pollution from chronic leakage and dumping from a large storage facility. Tens of thousands of barrels of oil have leaked into the channels and streams that pour into the Euphrates.

Roughly 15 km southwest of Derik, or al-Malikiyah as it is known in Arabic, a large oil storage facility, previously owned by the Syrian Petroleum Company, collects all the crude oil coming from the Suwaydiyah (also known as the Jazeera or Rmeilan) oil field, said the report. “Under ideal circumstances, the facility can store up to 2.4 million barrels of oil, according to experts from renowned oil tracking website TankerTrackers.com. But the story on the ground is far from ideal.”

The looming environmental disaster started early on after the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, when the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party took over most of the area from the Syrian regime and later established the autonomous administration. “Using satellite imagery from NASA’s Landsat 8, in orbit since February 2013, we can see that the facility struggled with containing oil waste in summer 2013. Open-air reservoirs were expanding on the perimeter in July and August 2013.”

“Soon after, however, the reservoirs began to leak, and a significant part of the facility’s grounds turned black as oil and/or oil waste spilled over.”

The leaks have raised fear among the local population on their health and negative impact on the soil and ground water, which is now polluted. Farmers have lost entire crops to the pollution after seasonal rains flooded polluted canals and streams, covering thousands of hectares in oil.

The leaks are ongoing, according to PAX’s Humanitarian Disarmament program leader Wim Zwijnenburg, who is also one of the authors of the report. He said the local population was suffering, urging the need for “bold” steps to be taken by all concerned parties, including countries, to reach a permanent solution.



As Trump Seeks to Be a Peacemaker, Netanyahu Leaves Washington without Breakthrough on Gaza Deal

 Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, arrive for a meeting at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, arrive for a meeting at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
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As Trump Seeks to Be a Peacemaker, Netanyahu Leaves Washington without Breakthrough on Gaza Deal

 Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, arrive for a meeting at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, arrive for a meeting at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington this week netted President Donald Trump another nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize he covets, but the ceasefire the US leader sought for the war in Gaza didn't emerge.

Despite Trump throwing his weight behind a push for a 60-day truce between Israel and Hamas, no breakthrough was announced during Netanyahu's visit, a disappointment for a president who wants to be known as a peacemaker and has hinged his reputation on being a dealmaker.

“He prides himself or being able to make deals, so this is another test case,” said Rachel Brandenburg, the Israel Policy Forum's Washington managing director and senior fellow.

Trump’s ability to strike a ceasefire deal in the 21-month war will reveal the boundaries of his influence with Netanyahu, especially after their recent joint strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities that both leaders touted at the White House this week.

Beyond the back-to-back meetings Trump and Netanyahu had at the White House this week, there was little public evidence of progress at a time when the Republican US president is pushing to end the fighting.

‘Closer than we’ve been,’ but challenges remain

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that when it comes to a ceasefire in Gaza, “we’re closer than we’ve been in quite a while and we’re hopeful, but we also recognize there’s still some challenges in the way.”

Rubio, who spoke to reporters while traveling in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, also said that Trump “wants to see a ceasefire and we’ve invested a lot of time and energy.”

Beyond ending the bloodshed, ending the war in Gaza would give Trump more leeway to strike some of the broader agreements he seeks in the Middle East, such as expanding the Abraham Accords that started in his first term and normalizing relations with Syria’s new government.

“He wants to be the one who gets hostages home and see the war in Gaza end so he can move on to some of these bigger deals,” Brandenburg said.

Even if a truce is reached, Netanyahu has promised fighting will continue if necessary until Hamas is destroyed. The group, meanwhile, has conditioned the release of the remaining hostages on Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, a stipulation Israel has been unwilling to accept.

Trump-Netanyahu relationship sees a rebound

It’s unclear how much pressure Trump put on Netanyahu in their private talks this week. But the two leaders came into the visit seeming more aligned than ever — at least for now — fresh off the president having twice come to the Israeli leader’s assistance.

Trump made the risky move to join Israel’s attacks on Iran last month, delivering pivotal US firepower while alarming world leaders and some of Trump’s “America first” supporters. Trump also inserted himself into Israel’s domestic affairs, calling for Netanyahu’s yearslong corruption trial to be thrown out.

That’s a marked turnaround in their relationship, which had appeared somewhat strained in recent years.

Trump shocked some of his fellow Republicans and staunch supporters of Israel by publicly criticizing Netanyahu not long after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, setting off the conflict.

He said that Netanyahu “was not prepared” for the attack from Hamas and that Netanyahu had “let us down” just before the US killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

Even during his last visit to the White House earlier this year, Netanyahu seemed caught off guard when Trump announced the US would hold talks with Iran over its nuclear deal rather than embrace Netanyahu’s push for military pressure.

With their military objectives aligning for a time on Iran, the Israeli leader has worked to foster a warmer relationship.

In a video he released after the US strikes, Netanyahu spoke — in English instead of Hebrew — of the “unshakeable alliance” between their countries while repeatedly praising Trump.

“His leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu tries the charm offensive on Trump

In his visit to Washington this week, the Israeli leader also showed he knows how to praise the president in a way that matters greatly to him when he unveiled a letter in front of reporters and cameras to announce he had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Those gestures, though, may only carry him so far as Trump pushes for a deal that Netanyahu may not be able to accept.

“I think if Netanyahu stands in the way too much for too long of the sort of loftier objectives Trump has set out for himself,” Brandenburg said, “Netanyahu will be cast aside as more of a problem than an asset.”

Netanyahu, like many Israelis, believes Trump is the greatest friend they have ever had in the White House and is deeply grateful for the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last month.

But the Israeli leader is also under mounting public pressure to end the war as hostages languish in captivity and more Israeli soldiers are killed in guerrilla-style attacks.

Israel’s military success against Iran has given him some political capital, but if he ends the war while leaving Hamas intact, he will have broken his repeated promise of “total victory.”

His far-right coalition partners have threatened to bolt if he does that, sparking early elections that could end his nearly unbroken 16 years in power and leave him more vulnerable to long-standing corruption charges.

That may prove too heavy a price for delivering the kind of lasting ceasefire sought by Trump and demanded by Hamas. Instead, Netanyahu, who is seen as a masterful politician by friends and foes alike, is expected to thread the needle.

In a video statement on Thursday, Netanyahu said that he would agree to a “temporary” 60-day ceasefire in return for the release of half the hostages remaining in Gaza, many of whom are believed dead, and that he would begin negotiations on ending the war.

But he conditioned any lasting ceasefire on Hamas giving up its arms – something the fighters have refused to do as long as Israel occupies parts of Gaza.

If Hamas can be disarmed through negotiations, “so much the better,” Netanyahu said. “If it is not achieved through negotiations in 60 days, we will achieve it in other ways — by using force.”