First it was guns, now Syrians must escape deadly makeshift oil refineries

We never heard about cancer except in magazines and on TV when Angelina Jolie had it a few years ago – we thought it was an animal, like rats attacking humans – but now we see cancer everywhere around us and realise it’s a serious illness,” says Mohammad, a 33-year-old oil refinery worker in the countryside outside Qamishli in northeast Syria.

After war broke out in 2011, makeshift oil refineries emerged in this region, a triangle of about 65,000 sq km, containing the provinces of Hassakeh, Deir Ezzor and Raqqa. After the withdrawal of Syrian government forces from the northeast in July 2012, military groups took over and the oil companies were replaced by patched-together oil refineries scattered among villages from Qamishli city eastwards to the Iraqi and Turkish borders.

The conflict made it impossible for the standard oil companies to operate in the region, which was controlled by various military groups including the Free Syrian Army, the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, Isis, and Kurdish forces. In 2015, the US-led global coalition against Isis supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and seized the entire country’s northeast from Isis in a series of battles that ended in 2019.

However, the Kurdish administration could not tackle the problem of the makeshift oil refineries, even though the area has been under its control with the presence of US troops since 2017. Kurdish officials say that without political recognition, no standard oil refinery is willing to operate in the region because of the conflict, except for an American company called Delta Crescent Energy. It was licensed under an Obama-era policy, but has not been permitted to operate by the Biden administration.

The security situation makes gathering data on the ground impossible in many regions of Syria. In government-controlled areas, it’s almost impossible for independent civil society groups to operate, and there are limitations on the UN’s ability to access areas outside of government control.

Between 2013 and 2017, there were 330 clusters of makeshift refineries across the Kurdish self-administered region – a total of 10,000 to 15,000 refineries of varying sizes. Today, about 20 clusters are still operating east of Qamishli, between Qahtaniyah and Tal Hamis.

We drove to Qahtaniyah town, about 25km east of Qamishli. Plumes of smoke rose in all directions, curling skyward in the countryside south of the town. There were black puddles on the ground around us. We talked to workers, farmers, patients, doctors and environmental experts, and we were shocked by the extent of the deterioration in the region.

Along with the devastating humanitarian toll of about 600,000 deaths and the forced displacement of an estimated 13.5 million people, almost half of whom are displaced internally, the Syrian war has also resulted in significant forms of damage that receive less attention but represent major potential harm, with long-term negative consequences for public health and peace. This must be central to any post-conflict relief or reconstruction effort.

Slow, silent death

There are at least 1,500 new cancer cases a month in Syria’s northeast, about 200 diagnosed in Qamishli and the others in Bayroni hospital in Damascus, according to local doctors. “Every day I have at least five new cancer cases in my clinic,” says Blenda Abdlrahman, an oncologist in Qamishli city whose clinic treats about 10 cancer cases a day. Abdlrahman says that most of the patients left the region several years ago at the beginning of the war.

“The patients who come to the clinic for treatment are from several regions of Syria. Most of them are from Rojava, but it is noteworthy that many of them are Syrians who migrated to Bashur [Iraqi Kurdistan] in the years 2014 to 2017, and now they have returned for treatment.”

In her neighbourhood in Qamishli city, she is aware of about 20 cases – before the war, this kind of cancer was unheard of, she says. In terms of annual cases in Bayroni hospital, Abdlrahman says that in the past the northeast, also known as Jazira, was not known for cancer cases at all. “I remember in 2011, the coastal area of Syria was at the top of the list.” Other sources say Bayroni receives 30-35 new cancer cases every day from the northeast. Danish Haj Obrahim, another oncologist from Qamishli, says he receives at least two new cancer cases a day in his clinic.

Akram Khalil, an intern who has been based in Qamishli for 25 years, says he sees a lot of stomach and intestinal poisoning due to water and food pollution. “Car and combustion exhausts lead to air and water pollution, and thus food, and this is the main reason behind the multiplication of food poisoning and liver poisoning cases.”

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Khalil also refers to cases of liver poisoning. “Several years ago, we witnessed a case of mass liver poisoning due to a water well in one of the villages of Tel Hamis, near the makeshift oil refineries. The village is small, with a population of no more than 500 people. About 70 cases of liver poisoning were confirmed.”

Farmers and workers in the makeshift oil refineries also complain of cancer symptoms. “We suffer from persistent coughs and itching in the hands, feet and body, as well as diarrhea,” says Fahed, an oil refinery worker. “Before the war, there were no diseases. We had a cold once a year, and most of us did not take medication. We were cured by herbs or lemons.”

In interviews with many workers at one of the hundreds of sites in this region, more stories were shared that indicate that many civilians do not have any other alternative to refining oil, as many are the sole providers for their families.

“The issue is that we have to work here, as all other sectors have deteriorated and there are no job opportunities. Yes, we are aware of the harmful effects of burns. Most of us suffer from itching and skin allergies, not to mention the daily cough all year round and sometimes shortness of breath, but we continue to work as long as we can work and stand on our feet,” says a refinery worker.

Another says: “We know that working here is deadly, but whoever does not die of disease will starve to death. Therefore, we see disease as a fate but hunger as a calamity that we should struggle to stave off as much as we can.”

Barren lands replace green fields

Not only have thousands of farmers been displaced, leaving their land barren, but those who stayed are no longer able to grow crops. The long-term ramifications of the makeshift refineries include contamination of soil and water resources by toxic oil products, with long-lasting environmental impact.

Anas Alqasem, an environmental expert for about 30 years based in Qamishli city, analyses this phenomenon in a more detailed scientific account. “Makeshift oil refineries result in the emission of toxic gases, including H2S [hydrogen sulphide], CH4 and C2H8 [methane], and toxic and heavy non-volatile elements that remain suspended in the air for a short period and then descend at a low temperature to the surface of the soil, forming a thick oily layer that kills all life elements, including living microorganisms that restore the activity and vitality of the soil and re-release the mineral elements for re-uptake by the roots of plants.”

Alqasem adds that the thick oily layer kills the roots, because it has reached the groundwater, and thus the irrigation water has an unpleasant smell and taste.

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Regarding the decrease in vegetables and fruit, Alqasem explains: “Some plants managed to grow to some extent, but the problem was always in the failure of pollination and the flower drop, and the formation of a waxy or oily layer on the plant and flowers. Here pollination does not occur because pollen does not reach from the anther to the stigma, and therefore the flowers do not turn into fruits.”

Bassam, a farmer from a village called Beshayriya, 30km southeast of Qamishli, near a group of makeshift refineries, says his 40,000 sq m of land has been fallow for three years.

“I used to grow cotton, wheat and seasonal vegetables, but this land has been fallow for more than two years because the soil is no longer suitable for cultivation. Most of its surface layer has turned black due to the smoke of burners [refineries], as well as the pollution of well water, which is no longer suitable for agriculture,” he says.

Bassam says that before the war there were more than 300 families and the village was overcrowded. But many people have left because of disease caused by the refineries and oil fields. Out of 3,000 people, about a thousand remain, and almost half of them have cancer, he says.

“The movement of people from the village for treatment has become a regular thing that we see every day. Some of them go to the neighbouring town of al-Qahtaniyah, some to the city of Qamishli, and some to the capital, Damascus.”

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His wife has had lung cancer for a year; she was tested last year after her condition worsened and her coughing increased. He points to the land in front of his house and says in a tired, stifled voice: “This land at this time of the year used to be a wheat field or a cotton field, but now, as you see, there is nothing.”

As a result of soil, air and water pollution, as well as displacement, the area under cultivation has decreased significantly. This is confirmed by statistics and figures from the Directorate of Agriculture in Qamishli, which provided some numbers for cotton fields from 2013 to 2020 in the Tal Hamis area, southeast of Qamishli.

Bees are also threatened with extinction: “If the bee disappeared from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years left to live” – a quote usually attributed to Albert Einstein. Whether Einstein actually said this or not, environmentalists strongly believe that bees are a vital symbol of nature, and their trouble is a sign that our natural environment is not in good shape.

Environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth reported a few years ago: “More than 90 per cent of the leading global crop types are visited by bees, and loss of pollinators could lead to lower availability of crops and wild plants that provide essential micro-nutrients for human diets, impacting health and nutritional security and risking increased numbers of people suffering from vitamin A, iron and folate deficiency.”

Alqasem also emphasises that the bee is an environmentally vital element that humans cannot live without, and that human life is threatened in Syria’s northeast if beekeeping continues to deteriorate. “The other reason for the failure of pollination and thus the deterioration of vegetation is the almost complete absence of bee colonies in the Jazira region, especially the areas under the influence of oil burners, whether near or relatively far,” he says.

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“The bee is the only insect that does not have the genetics related to resistance to pollution, and thus it dies when there is any kind of pollution or pesticides around it, while all other insects can adapt to polluted atmosphere to a large extent.”

Alqasem adds that many bee colonies have completely perished in Syria’s northeast, and beekeeping in general has declined due to displacement as well as the use of internationally prohibited pesticides amid the absence of scientific and judicial oversight over the past few years.

Beekeepers in the region, including Alqasem, also attribute the deterioration of their profession to the decrease of cultivated areas in the region due to the oil burners. “I had thousand of boxes before the war, but now I am left with 150 boxes only,” he says.

He suggests that a potential temporary solution for the remaining bees is to set their fields in areas near the border with Turkey, where bees can fly across the border to get pollen. “The lands around my bees have been barren for years; before they were green fields of nectar crops, cotton, sunflower, sesame and many kinds of vegetables.”

Suffocatingly hot summers, dry winters

Syria has several distinct climates. The western coastal plain is the most humid area of the country, with milder winters and summers than the rest of the country. The climate in the northeast is mostly that of the desert: hot, dry, sunny summers (June to August) and cold, rainy winters (December to February).

However, the climate in the past few years has changed significantly, mostly as part of global climate change in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, but also partially due to Syria’s significant increase in the use of electricity generators, and the rise in carbon dioxide emissions because of the makeshift refineries in the northeast, which produce low-quality oil for vehicles.

Despite the destruction of most factories and the closure of many others, Syrian CO2 emissions are still above recommended levels. In 2019, these totalled 26.96 million tons – they should be 1-2 million tons at most. The oil refineries and the low-quality oil contribute to keeping the levels high.

As a consequence of the bombing of the main oil refineries in Homs and the development of new makeshift refineries in Syria’s northeast, hazardous substances have formed. Oil spills from the damaged refineries, wells, trucks, pipelines and tanks have polluted ground and surface water, as well as soil, leading to polluted drinking water and agricultural land. The pollution and fallout from oil fires have destroyed large areas of cultivated and grazing land and killed livestock, affecting breeders and farmers.

This has all led to higher temperatures, compared to before the war. For example, in Hassakeh city the temperature reached 50C in July 2021 and 49C several times in 2018-2020; it didn’t once exceed 45C in the years 2000-2010.

The huge number of imported cars and generators in Syria’s northeast also contribute to hot, suffocating summers. A trader in Qamishli who did not want to give his name says a shocking number of cars and generators have been imported in the past few years. “There are at least 50 big generators working at least eight hours a day in the city of Qamishli, in addition to thousands of small generators, as almost every house in the city owns a generator.”

At least 600,000 cars have been imported since 2017, all of them using low-quality diesel and petrol. As for winter, sources at the Directorate of Water Resources in Qamishli say that in the past 10 years there has been a striking decrease in precipitation and a significant increase in temperature: “The precipitation rates of most areas of the region exceeded 440mm in 2000-2010, while they decreased to 380mm in 2011-2021.”

Escaping refineries, not guns

In 2013-2014, there were two waves of displacement in Syria’s northeast. Raqqa and Deir Ezzor fell under the control of the opposition and jihadi groups, leading to tens of thousands of people fleeing to Hassakeh and Qamishli to escape Russian air strikes. There were more than 600,000 internally displaced people.

Qamishli and Hassakeh cities and countryside were under the control of the Kurdish forces. There was no aerial bombardment, and the region was the safest in the country. Yet hundreds of thousands of people still left for the neighbouring Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI). There were more than 250,000 Syrian refugees there in 2015.

The figures above show that the second wave of displacement to KRI started in 2013 and increased significantly in 2015, to over 250,0000 people.

Interviews with dozens of Syrian refugees in KRI camps have found that most of them fled the poisonous smoke of the oil burners, especially those from east of Qamishli and from several towns on the border with Turkey, towards the Iraqi border. Interviews with Syrian refugees from Hassakeh show that most fled in search of better living conditions.

Using field research and interviews with communities and officials, PAX group said in a report published in August 2016 that people in the relatively safe northeast left their homes for reasons other than security.

“People want to return. They want to live on the land and work in their villages and towns,” says report author Wim Zwijnenburg, a project leader for PAX, whose research focuses on the intersection of environment, peace and security. “But what we get from the data we’ve collected is that the pollution and the concerns over health risks are driving people away: they feel unsafe, and there’s no money to be made because the yields from the land are so low.”

It’s notable that just as hundreds of thousands have fled aerial bombardment and violence, similar numbers have fled deadly pollution – the toxic legacy of conflict can be just as deadly as battlefield violence. The current instability and conflict in Syria hinder any effort to mitigate environmental damage and set Syria on a more sustainable course. This would require a level of collaboration and coordination across Syria’s different actors and geographies that seems unlikely at this stage.

“The simplest need for the region is a standard oil refinery,” says Blenda Abdlrahman. “At least we would no longer see and inhale the dirty vehicle exhaust.” But officials say that building standard oil refineries is unachievable, as global companies require stable and safe conditions.

Regarding electricity, Alan, a solar energy expert in Qamishli, suggests that people use solar panels rather than generators. He adds, however, that the cost of this means no more than 5 per cent of the population can afford it. Any post-conflict reconstruction plan – sustainable agriculture, solar energy, solid waste management – needs political stability and laws that guarantee investors’ rights.

This publication was made possible through the Candid Journalism Grant 2021, supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany