ALEPPO —  Under control of the Turkish-backed opposition, the city of al-Bab in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo is suffering from drought and an extremely low level of groundwater in most of the artesian wells that feed the city with drinking water. Some of these wells have even completely dried up with the advent of summer and the dramatically high temperatures, portending a humanitarian disaster.

In light of this, activists in al-Bab launched a social media campaign with the slogan “Al-Bab is Thirsty” to highlight the suffering of the city's residents in securing drinking water, and they are demanding solutions to the problem before it turns into a humanitarian disaster. 

Most of the citizens are buying water that comes from cisterns. They have been complaining about the high prices, as most poor families cannot afford it. The price of 2,000 liters of water before the drought amounted to about 12 Turkish Liras ($1.5); it increased to 20 Turkish Liras ($2.5) in light of the current crisis.

Osama Mahmoud al-Naous, spokesperson for the Gathering of the Families of Bab City, a media platform to promote stability in al-Bab, said in a Facebook post on July 1, “The city of al-Bab is an important part of Syria, especially at the present time. It includes large numbers of displaced Syrians who have been forcibly displaced by the regime from their homes. They are our families and brothers and are now going through a difficult stage. The disaster looms on, unless the situation is remedied. Al-Bab is thirsty in every sense of the word, and the crisis is exacerbating. We call on all our Syrian brothers everywhere to participate in our campaign, ‘Al-Bab is Thirsty,’ and we wish for popular mobilization to save the city’s residents. Please work at all levels and translate the suffering and transmit it in all languages on all social media platforms.”