Latest news with #Jbara
Euronews
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Euronews
Damascus suffers severe water crisis after lowest rainfall in decades
The Syrian capital Damascus is experiencing a severe water crisis after the driest winter for almost 70 years, an official has said. Ahmad Darwish, head of the Damascus City Water Supply Authority, said 2025 had seen the lowest level of rainfall since 1956. A total of 1.1 million homes get their water from the Ein al-Fijeh spring, which Darwish described as "working now at its lowest level." The spring is largely replenished by rainwater and melting snow from the mountains along the border with Lebanon. The spring and the Barada River, which it feeds, supply 70% of the water used by the five million people living in and around Damascus. In order to cope for the rest of the year, people will have to reduce their consumption, Darwish warned. Although the city is already contending with its worst water shortages for years, officials have warned the situation could get worse during the summer. They have encouraged residents to use water sparingly when showering, cleaning or washing dishes and many people are now having to buy water from private tanker trucks. Above the Syrian capital, Hassan Bashi, who works as a guard at the Ein al-Fijeh spring, walked through tunnels that used to be filled with water. "I have been working at the Ein al-Fijeh spring for 33 years and this is the first year it is that dry," he said. In the east of Damascus, Bassam Jbara said his neighbourhood was only receiving 90 minutes of water a day. It used to run all the time, he added. Jbara said regular electricity cuts are worsening the problem, as even if there is water, it often cannot be pumped up to tankers on the roofs. "The people of Damascus are used to having water every day and to drinking tap water coming from the Ein al-Fijeh spring, but unfortunately the spring is now weak," Jbara said. "From what we are seeing, we are heading toward difficult conditions regarding water," he added, before expressing his fear that supplies could drop further over the summer. Since the ousting of the long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's new rulers have attempted to start rebuilding a country devastated by almost 14 years of civil war. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the ex-leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, met with US President Donald Trump last week in Saudi Arabia as part of such diplomatic efforts. The US and the EU have recently indicated that they will lift economic sanctions on Syria to enable its economy to recover.
Arab News
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Family of Palestinian-American teen killed by Israeli troops seeks justice, US govt response
CHICAGO: The family of Palestinian-American Amer Rabee, 14, who was killed on April 6 by Israeli soldiers while picking almonds near his home in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayyah, is seeking justice and a response from the US government, his uncle Rami Jbara said. The family has not heard 'a single word of remorse or concern' from the US government, Jbara, who lives in the state of New Jersey, told Arab News. He said Rabee was shot dead while with two other Palestinian-American boys, Ayoub Assad and Abdul Rahman Shehadeh. 'The US will move its army for any American citizen in the whole world except in Israel,' he added. 'These kids … were unarmed. They had no weapons on them. They're 13 and 14 years old.' Jbara said his nephew was shot 'all over — his head, his shoulders, his stomach, his legs,' adding that Rabee was in the West Bank studying at the local high school, living with his parents who had moved back there from New Jersey. Jbara said Rabee's father protested to the US Embassy in Jerusalem, adding that this was not the first incident with soldiers or settlers from the settlement of Shiloh just north of Turmus Ayyah. Settlers have been harassing the town's residents for years, but the harassment has increased in the past year with 'no response' from Israel's government, police or military, he added. Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, representing New Jersey, said Rabee's death 'is another devastating reminder of the horrific human cost of ongoing conflict and tensions in the region. 'There must be a full and transparent accounting of the circumstances around his death and the actions of Israeli security forces.' Booker added: 'I call on the Trump administration to reinstate sanctions on perpetrators of such violence, which directly threatens the objectives of protecting innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians and preventing the war in Gaza and tensions in the West Bank from escalating into a wider regional conflict.' Palestinians at the Palestinian American Community Center in the city of Clifton, New Jersey, told Arab News that they are meeting to determine how to raise the issue of Rabee's killing with the US government and to raise awareness of Israeli violence.
