KFAR YUVAL, Israel: For years, public service announcements warned Israelis to save water: Take shorter showers. Plant resilient gardens. Conserve. Then Israel invested heavily in desalination technology and professed to have solved the problem by tapping into the abundant waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The once ubiquitous conservation warnings vanished.
Now, a five-year drought is challenging that strategy, as farmers struggle and the country’s most important bodies of water shrink.
It’s a confounding situation for a country that places itself on the forefront of desalination technology in an arid region, where water is a key geostrategic issue that has its own clauses in peace agreements.
“Nobody expected five years of drought in a row, so despite our desalination capacity, it’s still a very, very grave situation,” said Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of energy.
Some say Israel’s technological prowess may not be enough to overcome the forces of nature.
Situated in the heart of the Middle East, Israel is in one of the driest regions on earth, traditionally relying on a short rainy season each winter to replenish its limited supplies.
Years of decreased rainfall have reduced the Sea of Galilee, Israel’s main natural water source, to some of its lowest recorded levels, and Israel has stopped pumping water from it to its national system.
The current drought has also dried out some tributaries that feed into the Jordan River, which flows south into the Sea of Galilee then squiggles 220 miles (360 kilometers) to the lowest place on Earth, the Dead Sea.
The biblical bodies of water are crucial to the survival and stability of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, but they are increasingly drying up, largely due to climate change, growing populations and the greater use of water for agriculture.
In a bid to achieve water security, Israel has opened five desalination plants since 2005 and plans to expand that effort in the coming years. Roughly 40 percent of Israel’s drinking-quality water now comes from desalination and is expected to hit 70 percent in 2050.
When the drought was in its infancy, Israel greeted it with a shrug, pointing to its massive investment in desalination. But the tone has changed recently, and over the last few months a televised ad again has pleaded with Israelis to save water because — rehashing a tagline from previous campaigns — “Israel is drying up.”
Critics say water conservation — a crucial measure in semi-arid Israel — has been sidelined in favor of desalination.
“Israel definitely put conservation on the backburner. As soon as desalination plants were up and running there was this false sense of security,” and water consumption rose, said Sarit Caspi-Oron, director of the water department at the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, an advocacy group.
“Desalination doesn’t make up for everything, and when groundwater is suffering from drought and the Sea of Galilee is suffering from drought, you need to conserve,” said Caspi-Oron.
In the past, Israel has imposed taxes on water use during droughts and has promoted the use of water-saving devices. But there are no plans so far to pursue the measures this time around.
Desalinated water reaches Israeli households in the country’s most populated region along the coast as well as some inland residents. But in northern Israel, residents still rely on rapidly shrinking natural sources. So far, their intake has not been limited.
Once bubbling brooks in Israel’s north have been reduced to a trickle. Officials at the historic Tel Dan nature reserve say the springs there will be dry within two months, which could negatively affect tourism in the region.
Among the first to feel the drought’s sting have been farmers in Israel’s Galilee region. Israel has imposed a limit on the amount of water they can use, which has threatened an already tenuous livelihood and forced many to rethink their crops.
Israeli farmer Ofer Moskovitz can typically grow more than one crop each year, but for the first time he has chosen not to plant his wheat crops and is only growing avocados. Even that change is proving a challenge.
“If I don’t water the avocado trees for one day they start getting weak. If I don’t water them for a year, 20 years would go down the drain,” he said.
The existing infrastructure makes it impossible to deliver desalinated water to farmers in the north, said Caspi-Oron.
There are other reasons not to bank on desalination. The plants require immense amounts of energy and are costly to build and operate. Relying so heavily on desalination also creates a potential security risk, as an attack on the plants could potentially knock out large portions of the country’s water supply.
Still, Israel is keeping the technology a priority. The government passed a plan in June to tackle the drought, with its first objective to increase the amount of desalinated water. It also called for springs and tributaries to be rehabilitated and plans to add desalinated water to the Sea of Galilee starting next year, despite criticism from some that this could disturb the balance of minerals in the lake.
Israel is optimistic that the drought can be addressed with a little ingenuity.
The drought “will be solved, there is no question,” Steinitz, the energy minister, said. “This area is not new for us. We simply resume our historic tradition to focus and find developing water solutions.”
5-year drought raises questions over Israel’s water strategy
5-year drought raises questions over Israel’s water strategy
- It’s a confounding situation for a country that places itself on the forefront of desalination technology in an arid region
- The current drought has also dried out some tributaries that feed into the Jordan River
Syria’s military announces Aleppo troop withdrawal to prepare counteroffensive
The military said the withdrawal was part of a regrouping effort ahead of the arrival of reinforcements to launch the counterattack.
The military also added that dozens of soldiers had been killed or injured in fierce battles with insurgents in Aleppo and Idlib over the past few days.
Israeli military says struck Hezbollah on Syria-Lebanon border
- ‘Military infrastructure’ at the Syria-Lebanon border being used by Hezbollah for weapons smuggling
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Saturday it had struck “military infrastructure” at the Syria-Lebanon border being used by Hezbollah for weapons smuggling in violation of their ceasefire agreement.
The air force launched a “strike on military infrastructure sites adjacent to border crossings between Syria and Lebanon that were actively used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon” the military said in a statement. It said the smuggling happened “after the ceasefire agreement went into effect.”
Rebels control ‘most of’ Aleppo city, Syria war monitor says
- Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday
BEIRUT: A monitor of Syria’s war said Saturday militant rebels now controlled a majority of Aleppo city, reporting Russian air strikes on parts of Syria’s second city for the first time since 2016.
“Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions... took control of most of the city and government centers and prisons,” said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that overnight, Russian “warplanes launched raids on areas of Aleppo city for the first time since 2016.”
Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday, three military sources said, as rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad said they had reached the heart of Aleppo.
The opposition fighters, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, carried out a surprise sweep through government-held towns this week and reached Aleppo nearly a decade after having been forced out by Assad and his allies.
Russia, one of Assad’s key allies, has promised Damascus extra military aid to thwart the rebels, two military sources said, adding new hardware would start arriving in the next 72 hours.
The Syrian army has been told to follow “safe withdrawal” orders from the main areas of the city that the rebels have entered, three army sources said.
The rebels began their incursion on Wednesday and by late Friday an operations room representing the offensive said they were sweeping through various neighborhoods of Aleppo.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Rebels opposed to Assad return to city after nearly a decade
• Aleppo airport has been closed, military sources say
• Damascus expects Russian hardware to arrive soon, sources say
They are returning to the city for the first time since 2016, when Assad and his allies Russia, Iran, and regional Shiite militias retook it, with the insurgents agreeing to withdraw after months of bombardment and siege.
Mustafa Abdul Jaber, a commander in the Jaish Al-Izza rebel brigade, said their speedy advance this week had been helped by a lack of Iran-backed manpower in the broader Aleppo province. Iran’s allies in the region have suffered a series of blows at the hands of Israel as the Gaza war has expanded through the Middle East.
The opposition fighters have said the campaign was in response to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air force on areas in rebel-held Idlib, and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army.
Opposition sources in touch with Turkish intelligence said Turkiye, which supports the rebels, had given a green light to the offensive.
But Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said on Friday that Turkiye sought to avoid greater instability in the region and had warned recent attacks undermined de-escalation agreements.
The attack is the biggest since March 2020, when Russia and Turkiye agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict.
CIVILIANS KILLED IN FIGHTING
On Friday, Syrian state television denied rebels had reached the city and said Russia was providing Syria’s military with air support.
The Syrian military said it was fighting back against the attack and had inflicted heavy losses on the insurgents in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib.
David Carden, UN Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, said: “We’re deeply alarmed by the situation unfolding in northwest Syria.”
“Relentless attacks over the past three days have claimed the lives of at least 27 civilians, including children as young as 8 years old.”
Syrian state news agency SANA said four civilians including two students were killed on Friday in Aleppo by insurgent shelling of university student dormitories. It was not clear if they were among the 27 dead reported by the UN official.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.
“We are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible,” he said.
Iran to begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges, UN watchdog says
- International Atomic Energy Agency only mentioned Iran enriching uranium with new centrifuges to 5 percent purity
- Report further raises tensions over Tehran’s program as it enriches at near weapons-grade levels
DUBAI: Iran will begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its two main nuclear facilities at Fordo and Natanz, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Friday, further raising tensions over Tehran’s program as it enriches at near weapons-grade levels.
The notice from the International Atomic Energy Agency only mentioned Iran enriching uranium with new centrifuges to 5 percent purity, far lower than the 60 percent it currently does — likely signaling that it still wants to negotiate with the West and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
However, it remains unclear how Trump will approach Iran once he enters office, particularly as it continues to threaten to attack Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and just after a ceasefire started in its campaign in Lebanon. Trump withdrew America from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, setting in motion a series of attacks and incidents across the wider Mideast.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment over the IAEA’s report. Tehran had threatened to rapidly advance its program after the Board of Governors at the IAEA condemned Iran at a meeting in November for failing to cooperate fully with the agency.
In a statement, the IAEA outlined the plans Iran informed it of, which include feeding uranium into some 45 cascades of its advanced IR-2M, IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges.
Cascades are a group of centrifuges that spin uranium gas together to more quickly enrich the uranium. Each of these advanced classes of centrifuges enrich uranium faster than Iran’s baseline IR-1 centrifuges, which have been the workhorse of the country’s atomic program. The IAEA did not elaborate on how many machines would be in each cascade but Iran has put around 160 centrifuges into a single cascade in the past.
It’s unclear if Iran has begun feeding the uranium yet into the centrifuges. Tehran so far has been vague about its plans. But starting the enrichment at 5 percent gives Tehran both leverage at negotiations with the West and another way to dial up the pressure if they don’t like what they hear. Weapons-grade levels of enrichment are around 90 percent.
Since the collapse of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers following the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018, it has pursued nuclear enrichment just below weapons-grade levels. US intelligence agencies and others assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program.
The US State Department said in a statement to The Associated Press it was “deeply concerned with Iran’s announcement that it is choosing the path of continued escalation as opposed to cooperation with the IAEA.”
“Iran’s continued production and accumulation of uranium enriched up to 60 percent has no credible civilian justification,” it added.
Iran, as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, has pledged to allow the IAEA to visit its atomic sites to ensure its program is peaceful. Tehran also had agreed to additional oversight from the IAEA as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw sanctions lifted in exchange for drastically limiting its program.
However, for years Iran has curtailed inspectors’ access to sites while also not fully answering questions about other sites where nuclear material has been found in the past after the deal’s collapse.
Iranian officials in recent months, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, had signaled a willingness to negotiate with the West. But Iran also has launched two attacks on Israel amid the war.
Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian diplomat, said in a post on the social platform X that he met with EU diplomat Enrique Mora, criticizing Europe as being “self-centered” while having “irresponsible behavior.”
“With regard to the nuclear issue of Iran, Europe has failed to be a serious player due to lack of self-confidence and responsibility,” Gharibabadi wrote.
For his part, Mora described having a “frank discussion” with Gharibabadi and another Iranian diplomat. Those talks included “Iran’s military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights,” he wrote on X.
Fishers at a Lebanese port hope ceasefire with Israel means normal life is returning
- Israel earlier imposed a siege on southern Lebanon that kept hundreds of fishers on shore, upending their lives and the industry
- The possibility of renewed Lebanese fishing on the country’s southern coast is helping fuel hope for a brighter future
TYRE, Lebanon: The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brought hope for normality back to many in southern Lebanon on Friday, including fishermen who have long launched their single-engine wooden boats into the Mediterranean at dawn.
During the last two months of its year fighting Hezbollah, Israel imposed a siege on southern Lebanon that kept hundreds of fishers at this ancient Phoenician port on shore, upending their lives and the industry.
While less important than destruction and displacement, the port siege cut many people off from the key ingredients for traditional Lebanese dishes like sayadiyeh — fish and rice boiled in fish sauce — or fried and grilled fish eaten with dips such as hummus and tabbouleh or fattoush salads.
The loss of fish damaged a deep association with home, but now the possibility of renewed Lebanese fishing on the country’s southern coast is helping fuel hope for a brighter future.
On Friday, a few boats went out close to the shore as fishers in the port worked on the nets of small boats painted white, blue or red.
Hussein Sukmani, 55, said Friday that he was considering going to sea in coming days but was waiting to see how things unfold.
He hasn’t dared set sail since the Israel-Hezbollah war dramatically intensified on Sept. 23. “They were days of fear and horror,” he said. “They were the most difficult days of our lives.”
A week ago, a drone strike killed two young fishers in the city as they prepared their nets on the coast, and some fishermen said Friday that the Lebanese army told them that they if headed out it would be at their own risk .
Among those who sailed near the coast on Friday was Walid Darwish, who returned to the port with two plastic boxes filled with mullet.
“Today is the first time that we sail,” Darwish said, adding that fishers had missed the prime season in October and November.
“We lost it,” he said.
The Israeli army barred any boats from an area 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the border in October and has not said whether the warning is still in effect.
Sukmani said that most of the 700 fishers who work on the 270 boats at the port have not sailed out of concern since then.
The area around the port is a predominantly Christian neighborhood that has been spared much of the airstrikes on other parts of Tyre that leveled buildings in this city.
In peaceful times, the port is a major tourist attraction, beloved by Lebanese and foreigners who come for the views, the restaurants and the beaches.
On Friday, Mohammed Hammoud walked along the coast of Tyre carrying his fishing rod.
“It is enough that someone is able to stand in this beautiful area,” he said, pointing to the white sands. “Fishing is everything for me,” added Hammoud, who went to fish several times in the area north of the city of Sidon that was not part of the siege.
In the old market of Tyre, Gilbert Spiridon watched from inside his shop as people came to buy freshly brought fish. Before the war, it took hours to sell all his fish to people from around Lebanon.
“All I wish is that the war has ended and we are back on track to the old good days,” he said.
