Rebels seize Syria's largest dam
2013-02-11 17:47
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Syria
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Beirut - Rebels on Monday seized control of the largest
dam in Syria, a vital barrier along the Euphrates River in the northern
province of Raqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"The rebels took control of the dam, which is still
in operation. They are guarding both entrances but have forbidden the fighters
from staying inside for fear the regime will bomb it," Observatory
director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"This is the biggest economic loss for the regime
since the start of the revolution," Abdel Rahman said of the hydraulic
dam, which generates 880MW of power.
He noted that while the rebels had entered the control
rooms, they quickly left for fear that regime forces would retaliate by bombing
the dam.
Completed in 1973 after five years of construction, it
was dubbed Al-Thawra or "revolution" dam - ironically for the 1966
military coup that brought Hafez al-Assad, the father and predecessor of the
current president, to power and not for the current uprising against Bashar Assad.
According to the ministry of water resources website, the
dam is 4.5km long, 60m and 512m wide at its base.
It holds back Lake Assad, also named for the former
ruler, a 14.1 billion cubic metre man-made reservoir midway along the 2 800km
Euphrates, which flows from Turkey to the north to Iraq in the east.
Rebels from the jihadist Al-Nusra Front and the Awayis
al-Qurani and Ahrar al-Tabqa battalions also took over three districts in the
adjacent town of Tabaqa, the Britain-based Observatory said.
The fighters met little resistance in the town, while
loyalist security chiefs had fled on board military helicopters from the local
airbase.
Lower ranking members of the security forces were seen
fleeing from the Tabaqa airforce intelligence branch, in a video posted to
YouTube by activists.
The video shows men dressed in black uniforms running
across a street with their hands in the air amid barrages of gunfire and the
sound of echoing blasts. Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.
"Awayis al-Qurani battalion, Al-Nusra Front and
several battalions from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) taking the defectors to
safety at the airforce intelligence branch," a man says from behind the
camera.
Power change
On Sunday, the rebels overran an army base in the town,
securing a major cache of artillery and ammunition and taking control of a
vital checkpoint.
Tabaqa is a large and diverse town comprised of Sunnis,
Alawites, Christians and Kurds. According to the Observatory, the rebels have
said the residents will not be affected by the power change.
The taking of the dam is the latest in a string of key
rebel victories in northern and eastern Syria in recent months.
In late November, FSA fighters seized the Tishreen Dam
further northwest along the Euphrates that connects Raqa to Aleppo, giving them
easy passage between the provinces, which both border Turkey.
Two weeks ago, rebels captured a vital suspension bridge
that straddles the Euphrates further southeast in Deir Ezzor city, cutting off
the main regime supply route to Hasakeh province.
Regime troops have already been forced from the vast
territory stretching from Deir Ezzor city to the Iraqi border, but the rebels
have yet to take a major city in the war-ravaged country.
