Tell Tamer (Arabic: تل تمر, Syriac: ܬܠ ܬܡܪ, Kurdish: Girê Xurma) also known as Tal Tamr or Tal Tamir, is a small town in the Qamişlo Canton, in the Jazira Region of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
Originally inhabited by Assyrians in the early 20th century, a large minority of around 20% Assyrians remain in the town, living alongside a majority Kurdish, and a small, recently settled Arab Bedouin population.
In the 2004 census, Tell Tamer had a population of 7,285.
Located by the Khabur River at a major road junction, the town was an important transport hub for Syria.
In many places in Rojava water has been scarce since the invasion. Getting enough water for all people is a big challenge in the shadow of war, embargo and coronavirus emergency. At least the problem in the Washokani camp could now be solved.
More than a million people in Kurdish-held areas of north-east Syria are being put at risk of a mass Coronavirus outbreak as Turkish-backed groups repeatedly cut off the water supply to a region in which health services are already severely damaged by almost a decade of war.
In an interview with Sozdar Ehmed, representative of the Institute for Water Affairs in the Hesekê region, we talked about the current water situation in the region in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, after the water supply was interrupted for the fifth time by Turkey.
The co-chair of the Water Directorate in al-Hasakah canton, Suzdar Ahmed confirmed that the maintenance teams are continuing their work until the water is pumped to the city of al-Hasakah, as well as the completion of maintenance of the damage left by the Turkish occupation's assault on the electricity network in the city of Tel Tamr.
Almost 7,000 people now live in the Washokani camp, which was built for displaced persons from the Turkish occupation zone. For most of them the difficult conditions are the same. "In any case it is better than a life under occupation", they say.
