City of Tal Tamr, over 100 villages plunge into darkness as Turkish shelling

 On December 18, the village of Um al-Keif, located west of Tal Tamr in the Jazira Canton was subjected to intense bombardment by Turkish forces and their affiliated gangs. This assault destroyed high-voltage power lines (66 kV) supplying the Tal Tamr power substation, the central hub distributing electricity to the city and its neighboring villages. The subsequent damage has rendered the station completely inoperative, cutting off electricity to the city’s center and over 100 surrounding villages.

According to Amin Musaqli, the co-chair of the Tal Tamr Electricity Center, efforts to repair the damaged infrastructure have been met with significant obstacles. "Each time maintenance teams attempt to fix the damages, they face direct shelling by Turkish forces and their proxies, forcing them to retreat for their safety," he said. This continuous targeting has exacerbated the challenges of restoring power.

Musaqli also highlighted that this is not the first time the Tal Tamr station and associated power lines have been attacked. Since late 2019, when Turkish forces reached the city’s outskirts following their occupation of Serekaniye, the infrastructure has been targeted no less than 34 times. These repeated strikes have crippled the electricity network, plunging the region into recurrent crises.

 The Turkish occupation has also committed other severe humanitarian violations, including cutting off water supplies from the Alouk wells, which serve Tal Tamr, Hasaka, and surrounding rural areas. The current assault on electricity infrastructure is seen as a continuation of policies aimed at depriving the local population of essential services.

Despite these challenges, the Energy Body in Jazira is making concerted efforts to alleviate residents' suffering. Emergency measures include providing electricity to Tal Tamr and nearby villages for three hours weekly via the Ab al-Tineh power station, which is itself supplied by the western dam station in Hasaka. However, these initiatives offer only limited relief against the backdrop of widespread destruction.

Musaqli has called upon the international community and human rights organizations to urgently address the ongoing violations by Turkish forces. “These attacks are not just aimed at disrupting daily life but are part of a broader strategy to foment chaos, incite division among residents, and destabilize the region,” he said.

 For over a month, Tal Tamr and its surrounding villages have been shrouded in darkness, with no sustainable solutions in sight for restoring electricity. As Turkish forces and their allies continue to target essential infrastructure, residents remain trapped in a dire humanitarian situation, compounded by the deafening silence of the international community.

 The unfolding crisis calls for immediate action at all levels to restore normalcy to Tal Tamr and its villages and to hold those responsible for these violations accountable. Failure to act risks deepening the humanitarian catastrophe and further threatening the security and stability of the region.

a.k

ANHA