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.”



Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)

A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria.

The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012.

The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war.

Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners.

Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system.

He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years.

The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes".

Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy.

Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said.

Monday's ruling can be appealed.