head of laboratory osman gaddo has been testing water here for 20 years to make sure it is safe to drinkyears 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 i 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 souther