man speaks. northern syria is a war zone on the frontline of climate change.

in the cast few years, extreme heat and conflict have created a crisis. water has become the new front in this area's battle for survival.

phone rings. hasaka is a city without water. around 1 million people in this area depend on the water driven in by tankers like ahmad's. nashwa is a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city. ahmad is driving for an ngo which provides people here with free water.

the free water isn't enough to go around. i am a kurdish film maker originally from iraq.

i have come to hasaka, a city experiencing extreme heat. i have filmed in this area for years, but i have never seen the people so desperate. this region is a self—administered area within syria called rojava. born out of the chaos of the syrian civil war, people here hoped it would be a kurdish state for stateless people. but in recent years, rojava has been bombed by turkish forces. turkish president erdogan has vowed to stop the formation of what he describes as a terrorist state next to its border, saying they are targeting a turkish kurdish militant group called the pkk. the pkk have been fighting for autonomy in south—east turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. i am here to find out how climate change is affecting this region, and how

the conflict with turkey is impacting the people living here. man: hello. yahya ahmed has one of the toughest jobs in the city. he is a kurd and co—director of hasaka's water board. the water board tries to make sure that institutions like schools and hospitals and those most in need have water. head of laboratory osman gaddo has been testing water here for 20 years to make sure it is safe to drink. in recent years the city's population have relied

upon groundwater from wells. some residents have brought in water samples from their wells for him to test. not so long ago these problems did not exist. this is the khabour river, filmed in the 1990s flowing through hasa ka. the rivers only flow for a limited time during the year.

and extreme drought has been recorded for the last four yea rs. with the khabour no longer a reliable source of water, people have to look elsewhere. but the alouk wells were 65 kilometres from hasaka, in an area called ras al—ayn. water had to be piped in. then in 2019, rojava lost control of ras al—ayn when the turkish army launched an offensive on north—eastern syria. newsreader: around 60,000 people have fled their homes in north—eastern syria on the second day of a major air and ground assault by turkish forces. some civilians have been killed and dozens more have been injured. president erdogan said were seeking to prevent

a terror corridor across their southern border and to bring peace to the area. turkish forces seized what they called a safe zone inside north—east syria which meant that alouk wells are now in territory controlled by turkey today, there is no water coming from alouk to hasaka.

this man and his wife are a two—salary household and they say buying water costs half their monthly income. the demands at the water board never stop. fatima is the co—director.

fatima is heading to nashwa, to one of these streets that gets free water from an ngo. the women here are angry and frustrated because the water provided by the ngo seems to have stopped. this is just one street and there are many others in the same situation. i could not spend long in nashwa.

it is still considered dangerous. it is one of the places where kurdish fighters defended the city from the so—called islamic state, street by street. the human cost was high and everyone here was affected.

waves of conflict have brought hundreds of thousands of idps here to hasaka. this camp alone contains around 30,000 people. they were displaced when turkey took control of ras al—ayn, the territory where the alouk wells are. this influx has made ever more demands on hasaka's water supply. ahmad is delivering water to an ngo which provides people here with free water.

the school's classrooms are now home to 50 families. ahmad is an idp himself from ras al—ayn, the area now under turkish control.

0n the outskirts of hasaka is the facility where the water from alouk, the water from the city's main water source, used to flow. two years after turkey took over ras al—ayn where the alouk wells are situated, the un was raising an alarm.

we are concerned about reports of another disruption of the water supply in syria from alouk water station. this is the 24th such disruption recorded by our humanitarian colleague since november 2019. this latest disruption follows months of reduced functionality. up toi million people in the region are affected when alouk ceases to operate. there are disputed accounts of what was going on. turkey accused the pkk of deliberately cutting the power rojava was still supplying to the station. an insiderfrom the rojava authorities told me that turkey was asking for more power than the water station needed. meanwhile, turkey was bombing the area. newsreader: at least 30 civilians have been killed l during days of airstrikes. turkey has said their attempts are targeting terrorist facilities, but bbc eye has analysed data from over 100

attacks on oilfields, gas facilities and power stations provided by conflict monitoring groups, human rights organisations, local authorities and ngos. using satellite imagery, eyewitness videos, news reports and visits to the sites we have verified multiple attackshave been carried out on this region's four key electricity regions. they power the grid that provides electricity to vast areas of north—east syria including the largest power station, swadiyah. travelling around the area i see downed power lines and mangled pylons. ahmad is off to fill up his tanker. he faces a long hotjourney

to a place called shamoka. shamoka is 25 kilometres away from the city and hasaka's only reliable source of drinking water. for months, fatima and her colleagues have been worrying about the shamoka wells drying up. now at the height of the summer it looks like it is happening. the well owners here are worried. with water levels low, the pumps have to work harder and longer to get out what is needed. electricity could power water pumps around the clock and speed up the extraction. but with no electricity they have to use diesel—powered generators.

and oilfacilities have been bombed too. making diesel scarce and expensive. the pressure is on for the water board to find new sources of water for hasaka. this man is a water board engineer who has been tasked with a project to drill new wells in amouda.

drilling 20 wells is only the first challenge. then they have to get the water to hasaka, which is 70 kilometres away. the engineers hope to build a pipeline to the city. it is just too far away for the water to be transported by tanker. amar is trying to save this city, but at home he still has

to buy his own water. with the well running low, he is worried about unsafe water. he adds chlorine to his water to disinfect it. in north—east syria, two years ago, there was an outbreak of cholera. many parents here are worried about their children getting sick because of the water. the only short—term solution to the water problems of hasaka was to guarantee water from alouk wells again. but in october 2023, turkey delivered a major blow.

turkey bombed rojava's main electricity station, swadiyah. electricity from here supplied 900,000 people. it also once drove the alouk water station but that was now impossible. we put ourfindings about the impact of the wider turkish attacks in north—east syria to international human rights lawyers. they told us that these attacks on infrastructure with severe loss of water and electricity affecting people's abilities to survive could constitute a severe violation of international law. turkey says they are attacking terrorist targets. an independent un commission was not able to identify any military targets near the power station. they said the october attacks on swadiyah power station may amount to war crimes.

by january 2024, turkey's bombing had put north—east syria into near darkness. in nashwa, fatima has managed to organise a delivery. the street�*s long wait for water is over.

fatima believes that the government of turkey wants to destroy the dream of a kurdish homeland for north—east syria. back at the wells, one of

the drilled wells is complete. there are still 12 to go. for now, he is going to lock this well up. the water department does not have the money yet to build the pipeline needed to take the water to hasaka.

hello. there are still plenty of flood warnings in force, especially across central and southern england, but thankfully there is now a window of dry weather, at least through thursday. colder conditions, too. storm connell that brought yesterday's rain is well out towards the east now. we've got another weather system you can see on the satellite image approaching from the west, but we're between systems at the moment and under those clear skies, it's meant a chilly start to thursday. some early frost and some fog patches, but it is looking like a much drier day for many of us — not everywhere. so fog thursday morning is going to be particularly extensive across parts of northern ireland, also wales, western britain. some low cloud, mist and murk across east anglia, too. through the morning that should gradually clear away for most places. we've got a bit more cloud working in from the southwest of england — one or two showers, some rain for northern ireland too, but much of scotland, northern, central and eastern

england stays dry all day. not particularly warm — 4—7 for most of us, up to ten for the likes of belfast, perhaps 11 there in plymouth. so milder air working in from the west along with the cloud, the strengthening winds in the west as well later on thursday. 0vernight, the rain pushes in across parts of northern scotland. dry again for much of england and wales and there'll be some mist and some fog patches reforming, but it won't be quite as cold as we start friday morning. we've got that milder air moving in, so most of usjust about frost—free first thing friday. another largely dry day for friday for much of england and wales too. there'll be some rain for northern ireland, northern and western scotland at times. again, quite windy through some of these irish sea coasts. best of the sunshine holding on longest towards the east. temperatures here 8—9 degrees, but with that milder air in the west, the southerly wind developing, up to around 13 celsius. so this weather front makes its way eastwards across all areas as we head through friday night and on into saturday. saturday itself fairly settled, but the next weather system is lining up in the atlantic, so that means saturday is set to be a bit of a cloudier sort of day. some breaks in the cloud, particularly anywhere

towards the east of higher ground. many of us staying dry for a good part of the day, but quite breezy again in the west, but a different feeling day with that milder air in place. so most of us up to about 13—15 degrees on saturday. then as we head through the course of the weekend, then, it stays mild but unsettled. next couple of days, though, dry for many of us. it will feel pretty chilly, though — some rain across the north and north—west of the uk. bye— bye.

live from singapore, this is bbc news. exactly 2a hours income of the ceasefire between israel and hezbollah holds both sizeable and they are ready to active the other decides to break it.

donald trump's team says some of his cabinet picks have been targeted with bomb threats. a parting agreement between biden and president xi. china releases three us citizens held four years in a prisoner swap. a warm welcome. 24 2a hours on, the ceasefire agreement between israel and hezbollah appears to be holding. thousands of lebanese civilians are returning to their destroyed homes, authorities saying they are focusing on recovery and reconstruction after being pummelled by israeli strikes. the lebanese army and a unifil, the un peacekeeping mission

that operates on