Off the wire
• British shares drop on Monday  • Information sharing on counter terrorism expands in EU: Europol  • Jordan seeks to tackle budget deficit  • U.S. President Trump signs order to curb regulations  • UN slams terrorist attack on Mosque in Canada  • French FM arrives in Tehran for talks on bilateral ties  • Hamas rejects joining municipal elections before internal split ends  • Lithuanian economic growth accelerates to 2.3 pct in 2016  • Kenya's swift response to human-wildlife conflict saves lives  • Bulgarian interim gov't holds first meeting  
You are here: 　 Home

UN ready to aid in fixing water system in Syrian valley

Xinhua, January 31, 2017 Adjust font size:

The United Nations is ready to assist in repairing water infrastructure after a local agreement was reportedly reached in Syria's Wadi Barada, UN spokesman said on Monday.

Stephane Dujarric told reporters here that the rebel-held valley where infrastructure damaged by armed conflict has cut off water to millions of people.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that a local agreement was reportedly reached on Sunday in Wadi Barada in Syria, resulting in a number of fighters and their family members leaving the Wadi Barada area to Idleb, Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

"The UN stands ready to support the Syrian water authorities and the Red Crescent to ensure the swift repair of the water infrastructure," he said. "During the water cut-off, the UN provided water through trucking to a number of neighborhoods in (the capital) Damascus and surrounding areas as well as to 101 schools benefiting 94,000 children, as well as providing other technical support to the water authorities."

"Today, Syrian water authorities and Syrian Arab Red Crescent technical teams gained access to the Ain Al Fijeh spring to assess the infrastructure damage and start emergency repairs to resume the provision of water to Damascus, he said. "The Syrian Ministry of Water Resources announced that water samples are being tested and that the damage observed is considerable, including to electronic devices."

The United Nations has warned that sabotaging water supplies is a war crime after the main water source for Syria's capital was cut, leaving millions of people facing shortages.

Water supplies from the rebel-held Wadi Barada valley near Damascus have been severed since Dec. 22 with the Syrian government and rebels trading blame, reports said.

OCHA has said that water supplies were cut off because "infrastructure was deliberately targeted and damaged," without saying who was responsible. Enditem