Rights group: Turkey water cuts worsen Syria cholera problem

BEIRUT (AP) — A rights group says Turkey isn’t ensuring an adequate water flow downstream into the Euphrates River in Syria, worsening a water crisis that is believed to have increased the spread of cholera in the war-torn country. Human Rights Watch on Monday also blamed the Syrian government for “discriminatory diversion of aid and essential services” from areas controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Syrian officials and United Nations agencies announced in September that a cholera outbreak was sweeping the entire country. The outbreak is due to people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River and using contaminated water to irrigate crops. That’s according to the U.N. and the Syrian Health Ministry.