Kurdish Media Report Deal on Integrated Project for Northern, Eastern Syria

Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Kurdish Media Report Deal on Integrated Project for Northern, Eastern Syria

Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The US aims to present an "integrated plan" on northern and eastern Syria after it agreed with Türkiye on a specific formula.

The deal was discussed during the meetings of US envoy to eastern Syria Nicholas Granger with various parties in the region, according to Kurdish media.

Over the past two weeks, Granger has held talks with Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, and Assyrian officials in northeastern Syria ahead of an integrated regional project and a conference for those parties.

According to reports, the US envoy has not proposed anything concrete but is discussing general ideas, such as maintaining stability, including everyone in managing the region, and keeping a non-hostile relationship with Türkiye.

Diplomats concerned with the Syrian file continue to meet, especially after the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Washington.

Observers believe Ankara slowed its attempts towards normalization with the Assad regime after Cavusoglu visited the US, which explicitly rejected the move.

However, Türkiye aspired to press its demands in northern Syria on the US and Russia's pledge to keep the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) away from its borders for a distance of 30 kilometers to establish a safe zone and complete the secured areas to accommodate the Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, Türkiye announced it would continue to support the efforts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to ensure accountability for using these weapons in Syria.

On Friday, OPCW issued the third report of its Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), addressing the chlorine gas attack in Douma, Syria, in 2018, which killed 48 persons.

Commenting on the report, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that OPCW established a mandate to identify the parties responsible for the chemical weapons in Syria and concluded in its third report that the regime is the perpetrator of the chlorine gas attack.

The regime's responsibility for another chemical weapons attack has been confirmed, said the ministry.

"Türkiye will continue to support the efforts, first and foremost by the UN and OPCW, aiming at ensuring accountability in Syria," it added.

The OPCW said in its report that its team concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Arab Air Forces were the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attack on April 7, 2018 in Douma.

The report stated that based on the assessment of the large volume and wide range of evidence gathered and analyzed, the IIT concluded that in 2018, at least one helicopter of the Syrian "Tiger Forces" Elite Unit dropped two yellow cylinders containing toxic chlorine gas on two apartment buildings in a civilian-inhabited area in Douma.



Iraq Farmers Turn to Groundwater to Boost Desert Yield

Iraqi farmer Hadi Saheb says he is cultivating 20 times more land than before in the Najaf desert thanks to groundwater and a government initiative. Qassem al-KAABI / AFP
Iraqi farmer Hadi Saheb says he is cultivating 20 times more land than before in the Najaf desert thanks to groundwater and a government initiative. Qassem al-KAABI / AFP
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Iraq Farmers Turn to Groundwater to Boost Desert Yield

Iraqi farmer Hadi Saheb says he is cultivating 20 times more land than before in the Najaf desert thanks to groundwater and a government initiative. Qassem al-KAABI / AFP
Iraqi farmer Hadi Saheb says he is cultivating 20 times more land than before in the Najaf desert thanks to groundwater and a government initiative. Qassem al-KAABI / AFP

Farmer Hadi Saheb cannot wait to see his wheat fields flourish in the heart of the desert after he tapped into groundwater reserves in water-starved Iraq.

He is just one of many Iraqis who have turned to drilling wells in the desert to help sustain the country's agriculture, AFP said.

It is a risky move that threatens to deplete the groundwater in a nation already battered by frequent drought and scarce rainfall.

Although Iraq's fertile plains traditionally stretch along the once-mighty Tigris and Euphrates -- the two rivers whose levels have plummeted -- Saheb's vast lands lie in the heart of the southern Najaf desert.

"Year after year the drought worsens, and the desertification intensifies," said the 46-year-old, dressed in a white abaya as a duststorm swept through the area.

So he has turned to groundwater, taking advantage of a government initiative.

This leases desert land to farmers at a symbolic price of one dollar per dunum (0.25 hectares in Iraq's measurement), provides subsidized irrigation systems, and buys their harvest at a preferential rate.

Now that he doesn't have to rely solely on rainfall, Saheb said he cultivates 20 times more land than before, and his harvest has increased to 250 tons.

"It would be impossible to continue without groundwater, which we cannot extract without drilling wells," he said.

Like many other farmers, Saheb has upgraded his irrigation techniques.

'Strategic reserve'

He now relies on a center-pivot method involving equipment rotating in a circle to water crops through sprinklers.

This uses at least 50 percent less water than flooding -- the vastly more wasteful traditional way used for millennia, during which the land is submerged.

According to the agriculture ministry, Iraq cultivated 3.1 million dunums (775,000 hectares) this winter using groundwater and modern irrigation systems, while the rivers watered only two million dunums.

In Najaf, desert farming has expanded significantly.

According to Moneim Shahid from Najaf's agriculture authorities, crop yields have been boosted by new irrigation methods, tougher seeds and fertilizers suitable for arid soils.

Shahid said he expects a harvest in Najaf this year of at least 1.7 tons of wheat per dunum in the desert, compared with 1.3 tons in areas irrigated by rivers.

Last year Iraq had a very good harvest, exceeding self-sufficiency with a production of 6.4 million tons of wheat, according to agriculture ministry figures.

Religious institutions such as the Imam Hussein Shrine in the holy city of Karbala back the authorities and also support desert farming.

Qahtan Awaz from the shrine's agriculture department said the institution, which employs families to farm desert areas, is cultivating 1,000 hectares and aims to more than triple that amount.

Today, groundwater reservoirs help mitigate agricultural losses caused by drought, an already frequent phenomenon in Iraq that is worsened by a warming planet.

But preserving those resources is proving to be a challenge.

Shahid from Najaf's agriculture authorities, said "we should be vigilant" in protecting groundwater, calling it "a strategic reserve for future generations".

Its use "should be rationed ... and sprinklers could help regulate consumption", he said.

Depleting supplies

The Najaf desert lies above the Umm el-Radhuma and the Dammam aquifers.

Water levels in both aquifers have declined, according to the United Nations which has also voiced caution that aquifers worldwide are depleting faster than they can be replenished naturally.

Sameh al-Muqdadi, a water politics and climate security expert, warned that Iraq's groundwater levels have already dropped.

Water used to be found 50 or 100 meters deep (165-330 feet), but today wells are dug 300 meters deep, he said.

"People believe that these resources will stay forever... which is not true," Muqdadi warned.

Authorities have no estimates for Iraq's groundwater, and the most recent figures date back to the 1970s, he said.

"If you don't have any estimation, you cannot manage your resources."

"Groundwater is a contingency measure, and it should be used only in urgent cases" such as droughts "to sustain food security only", not to expand farmland for commercial purposes, Muqdadi said.

But unfortunately, "this is what we have nowadays".