TEL TAMR, Syria (North Press) – The mechanic Abdurrahman al-Izzo needs power, which has been cut for months, in order to fix a tractor in his workshop in the countryside of Tel Tamr, northeast Syria.
Al-Izzo, a resident of the village of Ain al-Abd, said the power outage has suspended his work, “If I want to fix any vehicle I need a compressor and electricity, I cannot weld anything because it needs electricity.”
For over five months, residents of dozens of villages north of Hasakah have been witnessing power outage after power nets in the frontline villages went out of order due to the indiscriminate shelling by Turkish forces and the Turkish-backed armed factions.
For about two years, villages in the northern and western countryside of Tel Tamr have been witnessing successive shelling by Turkey and its mercenaries stationed on the outskirts of the town forcing residents of these areas to flee their houses and causing massive devastation in the infrastructure in addition to damaging many vital and educational facilities there.
The Turkish forces and the affiliated armed factions targeted the village of al-Dardara, north of the town of Tel Tamr, with a barrage of mortars and artillery, reporting material losses in civilian houses and possessions, a military source of the Military Council told North Press.
45 villages with no power
“We have been out of power for over a year. If I want to weld a screw, I have to either go to Tel Tamr town or borrow a generator because I do not have one,” the mechanic, who is standing in front of his workshop adjacent to the M4 Highway, said.
Due to the persistent electricity cutoff, dozens of houses in the villages of Tel Tamr on the frontlines stay in dark because most of the residents cannot offer to buy generators.
Meanwhile, maintenance workshops cannot reach the frontline villages to fix malfunctions due to the continuous Turkish shelling against the region.
“Since July 29, we have been witnessing an ongoing shelling by Turkish-backed mercenaries causing damage to power nets,” co-chair of Tel Tamr electricity Management, Fahed Sam’ila, said.
“We cannot maintain power lines unless we coordinate with Russian soldiers in order to be able to enter the area which is near the occupied regions,” Sam’ila added.
Increasing expenses
Meanwhile, the increasing expenses of fixing the successive malfunctions of generators is one of the most prominent difficulties that the residents are witnessing in light of the power outage since many families are suffering from deteriorating economic conditions.
“I have a generator but it costs a lot,” Ali al-Muhammad, a resident of Ain al-Abed, elaborated about the high expenses of securing diesel.
“The fuel Management grants us 100 liter per month after they used to grant us 200 liters,” al-Muhammad added.
However, the official in Tel Tamr Economic Committee, Deldar Youssef attributed the shortage of fuel to the pressure to which fuel stations are subjected while distributing winter allocations of heating oil to residents alongside with the start of the seeding season.
He pointed out that issues will be better after the completion of distributing heating oil and the seeding season.
However, al-Muhammad’s family will stay long in dark until solutions are issued.