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Protests and bloodshed at Tishreen Dam, the Syrian war’s last faultline

At least 24 civilians killed in Turkish attacks as fighting between SNA and SDF rages in the north
Subha Mohammed Boza, 65, sustained multiple injuries when Tishreen Dam was hit on 16 January by a Turkish drone, 24 January 2025 (Andrew Waller/MEE)
Subha Mohammed Boza, 65, sustained multiple injuries when Tishreen Dam was hit on 16 January by a Turkish drone, 24 January 2025 (Andrew Waller/MEE)
By Andrew Waller and Khabat Abbas in Kobani, Syria

“People were singing and dancing when the drones attacked,” Subha Mohammed Boza recalled from his cottage in the Kobani countryside, his head wrapped in bandages. 

“The first strike hit close by, but no one was wounded. Then 50 seconds later there was another strike. I was knocked over by the explosion. I tried to get up to help others but I felt blood on my face and passed out.” 

Boza, a 65-year-old farmer from Kobani in northern Syria, had travelled to the Euphrates River by convoy on 15 January. 

He was part of a sit-in protest on the Tishreen Dam, organised by the local authorities.

One of the few crossing points over the river, the dam has become a flashpoint in ongoing fighting between the Syrian National Army (SNA), a Turkish-backed coalition of former rebel groups, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

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As Bashar al-Assad’s military collapsed late last year, the SNA seized the opportunity to strike against the SDF, forcing it out of Manbij and Tel Rifaat and sending tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians fleeing to safety across the Euphrates.

As well as a crossing point, Tishreen Dam is also a crucial piece of energy infrastructure, powering pumping stations for drinking water and providing electricity to 400,000 people. It has been out of service since sustaining damage on 10 December. 

Residents of Kobane arrive in the town centre
Residents of Kobani arrive in the town centre before making their way to Tishreen Dam where they are staging a sit-in against Turkish intervention in northern Syria, 25 January 2025 (Andrew Waller/MEE

In a bid to deter strikes on the dam, civilians from across northeast Syria have joined a sit-in protest there.

However, attacks have continued, with 24 civilians killed and 221 wounded by Turkish drone and air strikes on the dam and its immediate vicinity, according to the Kurdish-run local health authorities. 

The authorities say Turkey is “systematically targeting” ambulances and health workers, with three paramedics amongst the dead and four ambulances destroyed.

'Moral duty to protect'

Middle East Eye spoke to a number of eyewitnesses to the strikes and was shown footage from the aftermath of these attacks. 

Turkish officials denied air strikes had targeted civilians, telling MEE that the SDF was pushing civilians into a warzone as a tactic to stop SNA advances in the area.

'People were singing and dancing when the drones attacked'

- Subha Mohammed Boza

Turkey sees the SDF as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed group that has fought a 40-year insurgency against the central government in Ankara and is proscribed by Turkey, the US and the EU.

The sit-in protests have been organised by local government officials, some of whom led the first convoy from Kobani along with members of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a political party that is aligned to the SDF and dominates the administrative apparatus of northeast Syria. 

“We are trying to pressure the international community,” said Ferhan Haji Issa, co-leader of the local government in Kobani, which is also known as Ain al-Arab. 

He noted that the SDF played a key role in fighting the Islamic State (IS) group, so the US-led military coalition that fought alongside it “has a moral duty to protect us”.

Syrian critics of the Kurdish authorities in the northeast have accused them of using civilians as human shields.

But despite the presence of officials and PYD leaders at Tishreen Dam, many protesters insisted to MEE they were unaffiliated civilians who had been moved to act because of the threat to their local community. 

'I'm happy to do it'

On 25 January, a third convoy of about 30 vehicles from Kobani set off from the town centre towards the dam. 

Selwah Ahmad, a 24-year-old mother of three, joined the protest for the first time. 

“We are going to show solidarity with our forces in the SDF,” she said. “I go voluntarily and I’m happy to do it. Whatever price we have to pay for our land, we will not regret it.” 

The stand-off over the future of northeast Syria presents a major challenge to a peaceful transition from the Assad family’s 54-year rule. 

selwah Ahmad
Selwah Ahmad, 24, waves goodbye and she sets off with the third convoy of civilians from Kobani to join the protest at the dam, 25 January 2025 (Andrew Waller/MEE)

Northeast Syria has been under the control of the SDF since it wrested control from IS during a hard-fought military campaign from 2015 to March 2019. 

Throughout the campaign, the SDF received air support from a US-led coalition that continues to host 2,000 US troops on bases across its territory. 

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But the new authorities in Damascus are determined to assert control over the whole of Syrian territory and bring all armed groups into a unified armed forces under its command.

In his first speech to the Syrian people after formally assuming the presidency, former rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa declared that ensuring Syria’s territorial integrity under a single authority was one of his five priorities.

The SDF demands the continued operational unity of their forces and a decentralised state.  

In public, both the Sharaa-led authorities in Damascus and the SDF are at pains to stress that their differences can be resolved through negotiation. 

But they are yet to reach a compromise that would end fighting in the north. Meanwhile, local officials insist the civilian convoys will continue to approach the dam. 

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