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Turkey Speaks of Deal with Russia on Securing Electricity, Water in Northeast Syria

A Russian vehicle near a water station in northeastern Syria on Monday. (Russia Today)
A Russian vehicle near a water station in northeastern Syria on Monday. (Russia Today)
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Turkey Speaks of Deal with Russia on Securing Electricity, Water in Northeast Syria

A Russian vehicle near a water station in northeastern Syria on Monday. (Russia Today)
A Russian vehicle near a water station in northeastern Syria on Monday. (Russia Today)

Russian and Turkish military officials have agreed to provide electricity to the parts of northeastern Syria that are run by Ankara-backed militant factions and water to Kurdish-run areas in the region, according to media reports.

Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported on the deal securing power to 200,000 civilians living in areas where Turkey had staged Operation Peace Spring against Kurdish forces in the Ras al-Ain region.

Meanwhile, potable water will be provided to those living in areas run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Hasakeh province.

In other words, the understanding reached between the Russian and the Turkish forces reported by Anadolu Agency would see exchanging the provision of the Turkish-occupied Sere Kaniye region with electricity in return for the reoperation of the Alouk water station.

An official in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) denied reaching a final agreement with Turkish forces regarding the water station, accusing the latter of “breaking the terms of understanding.”

“The Turkish forces have not complied with the terms since the water has not reached Hasakeh city yet,” co-chair of the Energy Office in the Jazira region Ziyad Rustem told the North Press Agency.

Last month, Rustem revealed the existence of indirect negotiations with Turkey under Russian auspices to restart the Alouk station in the countryside of Ras al-Ain.

The AANES has demanded the operation of 20 wells and four pumps in the station to ensure the arrival of water to Hasakeh and its countryside, Rustem added.

“The water has not reached Hasakeh because the Turkish forces operate two pumps only out of five that have been agreed upon, though the AANES fulfilled all the demands of the understanding,” Rustem stated.

“The Turkish forces ask for 25 megawatts of electricity from Tishreen Dam six hours a day, and eight megawatts from Derbasiya station 24 hours a day,” Rustem pointed out.

Turkish forces and their affiliated armed factions have shut the Alouk station 15 times since their invasion and occupation of Ras al-Ain in October 2019.

The station is the primary source of drinking water for nearly one million people in the towns of Tel Tamr, Hasakeh, Shaddadi, Hol and rural areas and camps affiliated with these towns.

Rustem expressed his skepticism regarding the Turkish claims and deemed the operation of Alouk station as “necessary and cannot be disregarded.”

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Arab World

More Than One Million in Lebanon Face Acute Food Insecurity, UN Says

A woman holds her daughter's hand as they walk through a neighborhood where homes were destroyed in Israeli strikes near Tebnin Citadel in southern Lebanon, October 3, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman holds her daughter's hand as they walk through a neighborhood where homes were destroyed in Israeli strikes near Tebnin Citadel in southern Lebanon, October 3, 2026. (Reuters)
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More Than One Million in Lebanon Face Acute Food Insecurity, UN Says

A woman holds her daughter's hand as they walk through a neighborhood where homes were destroyed in Israeli strikes near Tebnin Citadel in southern Lebanon, October 3, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman holds her daughter's hand as they walk through a neighborhood where homes were destroyed in Israeli strikes near Tebnin Citadel in southern Lebanon, October 3, 2026. (Reuters)

More than one million people in Lebanon face acute food insecurity, the United Nations warned on Wednesday, following years of war and economic crisis.

Lebanon has endured two successive wars with neighboring Israel since 2023 and remains mired in an unprecedented economic collapse triggered seven years ago.

Nearly a quarter of the population face crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse, said a joint statement by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and the Lebanese agriculture ministry.

They called for "urgent action" to alleviate the situation.

The number is expected to rise to 1.15 million by the middle of next year, they added.

"Employment opportunities remain limited, savings have been depleted and debt remains high, while the cost of food, fuel and other essentials continues to strain household budgets," the UN bodies said.

The UN defines such levels of food insecurity as households facing malnutrition, or only being able to meet minimum needs through emergency measures such as selling assets.

Of most concern are conditions in conflict-affected areas of south Lebanon, as well as in impoverished regions in the north and east, they said.

Lebanon's authorities estimate that the cost of two wars between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah since October 2023 amounts to around $27 billion.

The last war, launched in March in support of Hezbollah's patron Iran, displaced more than one million people in Lebanon. That number has fallen to around 300,000 since violence subsided in June.

The fighting broke out as Lebanon struggled to recover from its worst ever economic crisis, which began in 2019.

Beirut has been seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund but has yet to implement reforms demanded by the institution to release the aid.

Arab World

Netanyahu Dismisses Claims That Israel Is Blocking Supplies to Gaza

A Palestinian child sits beside a pool of rainwater at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP)
A Palestinian child sits beside a pool of rainwater at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP)
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Netanyahu Dismisses Claims That Israel Is Blocking Supplies to Gaza

A Palestinian child sits beside a pool of rainwater at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP)
A Palestinian child sits beside a pool of rainwater at a camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP)

Netanyahu said Israel was not to blame for the worsening conditions for Palestinians in Gaza’s tent camps that have been hit with severe winter floods.

His remarks came after the US-created Board of Peace — established under US President Donald Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas war and oversee Gaza’s recovery — said Monday that Israel's delaying of the entry of winter supplies into Gaza had “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.”

Torrential rain has battered the war-torn enclave in recent days, damaging tens of thousands of makeshift tents. Four people, including three children, were killed on Sunday when a large sandstone slab collapsed onto tents during the rains.

Netanyahu said the Palestinian group Hamas is to blame because it continues to refuse to disarm, a condition of the deal announced by Trump, and seizes humanitarian aid in order to use it for military purposes.

“Hamas alone is responsible for the suffering of the people of Gaza, and it is now cynically exploiting that suffering to shift blame onto Israel once again,” he said Tuesday.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the situation in Gaza was “intolerable” and demanded Israel end “arbitrary restrictions” on aid.

In Washington, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, the top Democrat on the Senate's foreign spending subcommittee, called for Israel to immediately allow winter gear into Gaza.

“There are a lot of challenges when it comes to Israel and Palestine that are complicated, and fraught, and contentious,” Schatz said on the Senate floor on Tuesday. “But we should all be able to agree that repairing torn tents and helping people to dry out, and providing warmth to freezing children is a basic human obligation.”

Arab World

Representatives of 3 Countries Receive Families of ISIS Fighters from Syria’s Roj Camp

Women and their children at the Roj camp in Syria. (AFP file)
Women and their children at the Roj camp in Syria. (AFP file)
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Representatives of 3 Countries Receive Families of ISIS Fighters from Syria’s Roj Camp

Women and their children at the Roj camp in Syria. (AFP file)
Women and their children at the Roj camp in Syria. (AFP file)

Representatives of Sudan, Somalia and Indonesia have received another group of their nationals from the Roj camp in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province, the country’s last remaining camp housing families of ISIS fighters.

The handover took place three days ago during a visit by the foreign representatives, accompanied by Syrian government officials and members of the Internal Security Forces, according to a local activist.

The repeated visits by government security delegations suggest that Damascus is preparing to take over administration of the facility from the dissolved Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the activist said.

Ibrahim al-Halabi, a resident of Hasakah, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the delegation met women living at the site who described their circumstances.

Located in the far northeast of Hasakah province, Roj houses around 2,200 women and children in 750 tents. Its residents hold various foreign and Arab nationalities, including Turkish, Russian, British, French, German, Australian, Indonesian, Sudanese, Somali and Tunisian citizenship. It became Syria’s last remaining camp for families of ISIS fighters following the closure of al-Hol, also in the Hasakah countryside.

Several groups of Sudanese, Somali and Indonesian nationals have already been repatriated since 2022.

According to Halabi, the latest handover included 12 Indonesian women and their children, 30 Somali women and between three and nine Sudanese women.

Dual citizenship complicates repatriation

Halabi explained that Sudanese and Somali nationals repatriated in previous operations held only one nationality. Others, however, have dual citizenship, including Sudanese-British and Somali-British nationals, complicating efforts to arrange their return.

Some women have refused to be handed over to Sudanese authorities, demanding instead that they be transferred to the British government. As a result, Sudanese and Somali women holding dual nationality have yet to be repatriated, Halabi noted.

He added that Syrian government Internal Security Forces had entered Roj several times recently, during which residents from Australia, Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia and Trinidad and Tobago were transferred out.

The latest visit brought considerable relief to residents.

Halabi also viewed the visits as a sign that Damascus would assume responsibility for managing the facility. However, he expected security arrangements to remain under the supervision of former SDF personnel integrated into the government’s Internal Security Forces under the January 2026 agreement between Damascus and the Kurdish-led force.

Roj's future

In February, the Syrian government took control of al-Hol, previously the country’s largest detention camp for families of ISIS fighters, after wresting it from the SDF, which had administered both facilities.

Al-Hol, described as the world’s most dangerous camp, had housed tens of thousands of families of various nationalities.

Following its takeover, Damascus began evacuating foreign residents and transferring them to another camp in the northern Aleppo province.

With al-Hol closed, Roj emerged as the most prominent remaining facility housing women and widows of ISIS members from different countries.

However, activists in northern Syria say it remains unclear when the camp will close or where its residents will be transferred afterward.