PYD Kurds reportedly turn off water in Hasaka

TODAY’S MESOP MEDIA ROUND UP SYRIA – WEST KURDISTAN

22.5.2014 – Kurdish fighters reportedly cut the water supply to the entire northeastern Syrian city of al-Hasaka on Thursday, according to the independent al-Hasaka News Center (HNC), as fighting continued for a second consecutive day between Kurdish militias and the pro-Assad National Defense Forces.

Kurdish militias “stopped the flow of water to all of al-Hasaka city,” reported the HNC on its Facebook page Thursday, without explaining how it happened. The news comes after Kurdish fighters claimed control of the provincial capital’s water management center during clashes with NDF forces on Tuesday.
The news coincided with reports from Kurdish media Thursday that an improvised explosive device had targeted a school in the neighborhood of a-Salihiya. The fighting, which began Tuesday in east al-Hasaka neighborhood, spread Wednesday to residential areas north and south of the city, according to Attiyeh al-Attiyeh, a pro-Assad journalist based in al-Hasaka.
Fighting between the Kurds and pro-Assad forces has been rare despite the Kurds’ growing military profile as both sides battle ISIS for control of Syria’s northeast.