Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa sent a message to Jordan through Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani saying that “Syria’s water will be shared with Jordan,” according to Mohammad Taha al-Ahmad, director of Arab affairs at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
Jordan’s al-Mamlaka TV quoted al-Ahmad on Monday, April 13, as saying, “We have made excellent progress on the water file with Jordan, and it is moving in the right direction and at an accelerated pace.”
He added that illegal well drilling had been prevented on both sides of the Yarmouk River basin in Jordan and Syria.
Boosting Syrian-Jordanian Economic Integration
The Syrian official said Syria had made major progress in joint coordination with Jordan, adding that the participation of more than 30 ministers in the second session of the Higher Coordination Council between Jordan and Syria was “evidence of advancing diplomacy between the two countries.”
He added that the agreements with Jordan strengthen Syrian-Jordanian economic integration.
Among the agreements signed during the Syrian delegation’s visit to Jordan was the reactivation of the joint water committee, which has met twice, most recently in Damascus on August 4, 2025.
The Higher Coordination Council stressed the importance of:
- Holding joint water committee meetings during the current month.
- Discussing mechanisms to sustain water flow in the Yarmouk Basin following the recent rainfall.
- Activating the shared digital platform, exchanging data through the designated link, and developing the Yarmouk Basin and the joint cloud seeding project.
Earlier Talks on Optimal Use of the Yarmouk Valley
In August 2025, Hisham al-Haisa, secretary-general of the Jordan Valley Authority, said Syria and Jordan had reached understandings on managing water resources in the Yarmouk River basin in line with bilateral water agreements, in a way that differed from what had prevailed before the fall of the former Syrian regime.
Speaking at the time during a meeting of the Agriculture and Water Committee in the Jordanian parliament, al-Haisa said recent meetings had reactivated the joint technical committee for the Yarmouk Basin, which discussed the mechanisms needed to stop unregulated depletion from several dams and illegal wells in the river basin.
He explained, in remarks carried by Jordan’s al-Mamlaka TV, that the two sides had held intensive reciprocal sessions in Amman and Damascus in the previous period, involving the officials responsible for the water sector in both countries. The aim was to reactivate earlier agreements and memorandums and address the problems affecting the Yarmouk River, especially illegal well drilling, which has affected river flow and the water heading to al-Wehda Dam.
Those efforts led to measures by the Syrian side to stop illegal wells and reduce groundwater depletion.
Fair Water Sharing at Yarmouk Dam
The Jordanian official also said Jordan had submitted an integrated study of the Yarmouk Basin covering both the Jordanian and Syrian sides, with the aim of achieving fair water sharing between the two countries. He added that Jordan and Syria had also agreed to use cloud seeding as a solution to boost water resources, expressing hope for good rainy seasons in the region.
The Syrian-Jordanian understandings also include a plan to train Syrian engineers in dam and water basin management, electronic control systems, and more effective water distribution. This comes within the context of the assistance and expertise Jordan is providing Syria in several fields.
Jordan’s share of Yarmouk River water, under the fair-sharing agreement, reached 50% of the Yarmouk Dam’s capacity, estimated at about 110 million cubic meters. According to a statement by Omar Salameh, spokesperson for Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation, to al-Araby al-Jadeed in July of the same year, that share had been withheld from Jordan and it had not benefited from it despite repeated promises in recent years.
These steps represent a new beginning for water cooperation between Jordan and Syria and reflect both sides’ commitment to protecting water resources and ensuring sustainability.
Syrian Energy Ministry Says New Deal Ensures Fair Distribution
At the same time, Syria’s Ministry of Energy announced that a new agreement had been reached to ensure the fair distribution of water shares in the Yarmouk Basin between Syria and Jordan. The announcement came after the first official meeting of the joint technical water committee in July, just days after an official visit by Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir to Amman.
The visit produced initial understandings to define future cooperation paths in the fields of energy and water, as well as work plans for the joint technical committees. This included an agreement to reexamine the 1978 bilateral water cooperation agreement on the Yarmouk Basin between the two countries. No new water shares were announced at the time, but new mechanisms are expected to be reached for distributing them in a “precise and fair” manner.
Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu al-Saud said at the time that Syria needed support in preserving water, reducing losses, managing dams, increasing efficiency of use, improving the condition of water basins, and confronting drought. He also pointed to the possibility of sharing Jordanian experience in the use of treated water, as well as the use of artificial intelligence in water management.
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