How olive oil exports exacerbate Syria’s water crisis

How olive oil exports exacerbate Syria’s water crisis

In a corner of his house in Salqin, a city in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, agricultural engineer Abdullatif Boubki stacks metal tins filled with olive oil: his land’s harvest from last season.  Up until 2012, Boubki relied on olive oil as a source of income. But when the conflict intensified in the Idlib countryside that year, the road was cut off. No longer able to sell his oil, he made a habit of storing it at home.  Olive oil is a str…