Red Cross: Water Continues to Be Used as Weapon of War in Syria

Sep 3, 2015 | Schuyler Null
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Water is being used as a weapon of war on one of Syria’s deadliest battlegrounds, says the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its local affiliate, the Syrian Arab Crescent, in a new video. Aleppo, a city of more than 2 million before the conflict, has two pumping stations that are sometimes shut down by combatants to put pressure on the opposition. This disrupts supply for thousands of households, who go without water or revert to untreated sources. The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Crescent have responded by drilling wells near the front lines to provide backup water supplies to civilians. They have also organized loading points to deliver water by truck, says Tammo van Gastel, an ICRC water engineer.