Syria Cholera Outbreak Worsened By Assad Regime, Turkey

Human Rights Watch on Monday accused the Assad government in Damascus and Turkey of exacerbating Syria's deadly cholera outbreak by restricting aid and water flow to the country's Kurdish-held northeast.

Turkey has “failed to ensure” adequate water flow down the Euphrates river and supply from the strategic Turkish-controlled Alouk water station, HRW said.

The rights group also slammed the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for its “discriminatory diversion of aid and essential services” away from Kurdish-held areas in the northeast.

Syria has recorded 81 deaths and more than 24,000 suspected cases of the extremely virulent disease since September, according to the World Health Organization.

Syrian Kurdish authorities have also accused Turkey of weaponizing water by tightening the tap upstream -- claims Turkey has denied.

Cholera is generally contracted from contaminated food or water and spreads in residential areas that lack proper sewerage networks or mains drinking water.