"include a trilogy of documentaries concerning the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates. The first, ""Film Essay on the Euphrates Dam"" (1970), is a tribute to Syria's greatest development project, but the second and third take a more critical approach. ""Everyday Life in a Syrian Village"" (1974) shows the dam's ambiguous impact on the lives of ordinary people in a nearby village, and portrays their relationship with the authorities, seen as distant and disconnected from them. Amiralay revisited the region in 2003 with ""A Flood in Baath Country"", which contains trenchant political criticism (it had the working title ""Fifteen reasons why"
"River accounted for over 85% of the country's surface water resources, but its water was used for only about two-fifths (200,000 hectares) of the land then under irrigated cultivation. In 1984, about 44% of irrigated land still used water from wells. Several project studies were conducted after World War II, and, in the 1960s, the Soviet Union agreed to provide financial and technical assistance for the Tabqa Dam, a large hydroelectric power station, and portions of the major Euphrates irrigation project. The dam, located at al-Thawrah, a short distance upriver from the town of Raqqa, is earth fill, 60 meters"
"Mumbaqat Tall Munbāqa (also Ekalte (Mumbaqat)) is a 5,000-year-old town complex in northern Syria now lying in ruins. The ruins are located on the east bank, on a steep slope, of the upper course of the Euphrates. In the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC the city was an important city-state in the region. Due to the establishment of the Tabqa Dam at Al-Thawrah, 35 kilometers west of Raqqa, the city ruins are partially flooded today by Lake Assad. Situated high above the steep drop of the eastern shore, Tall Munbāqa is still preserved. The Euphrates was one of the highways,"
"2017, after heavy fighting damaged the main control panel at the dam and disabled the hydroelectric power station, ISIL warned of the imminent collapse of the Tabqa Dam, during a joint US/SDF operation to capture the dam. SDF forces announced they captured the dam on 10 May 2017. The Tabqa dam is located on a spot where rocky outcrops on each side of the Euphrates Valley are less than apart. The dam is an earth-fill dam that is long, high from the riverbed ( above sea-level), wide at its base and at the top. The hydroelectric power station is located"
"Battle of Tabqa (2017) The Battle of Tabqa (2017) was an operation, part of the Raqqa campaign (2016–2017), dubbed ""Operation Wrath of Euphrates"", against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to recapture and secure Tabqa Dam, al-Thawrah city (Tabqa), Tabqa Airbase, and the surrounding countryside from ISIL. The anti-ISIL forces comprised the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Kurdish militias, supported by the United States military. The assault on these targets by the anti-ISIL forces began on 22 March 2017, and control of Tabqa and the Tabqa Dam had been achieved by these forces by 10 May 2017."
"Al-Thawrah Al-Thawrah ( '), also known as al-Tabqah ( '; , ; official name before 8 March 1967), is a city located in Raqqa Governorate (Syria), approximately west of Raqqa. The name ""al-Thawrah"" literally means ""The Revolution"", in reference to the March 8th revolution. The Tabqa Dam, which compounds the Euphrates and creates Lake Assad, was built near al-Thawrah. The city had a population of 69,425 as of the 2004 census. On 26 November 2012, during the Syrian Civil War, a main route from Raqqa to Aleppo passing through al-Thawrah along the Euphrates was dotted with both government and rebel"
"Taqba Dam after a deal struck by the SDF and around 70 ISIS militants at the dam which included dismantling of IEDs and booby traps, the surrender of heavy weaponry and forced withdrawal of remaining fighters from Tabqa city. On 18 May, the US conducted airstrikes on a convoy of a pro-government militia during the 2017 Baghdad–Damascus highway offensive. According to a US defense official, before the strikes were conducted, government troops were warned they were getting too close to Coalition forces garrisoned at al-Tanf but did not respond. According to the US, four or five vehicles were destroyed, including"
"irregular output of the Tabqa Dam and as a hydroelectric power station. The Tishrin Dam, which functions primarily as a hydroelectric power station, has been constructed south from the Syro–Turkish border and filling of the reservoir started in 1999. Its construction was partly motivated by the disappointing performance of the Tabqa Dam. The implementation of a fourth dam between Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor – the Halabiye Dam – was planned in 2009 and an appeal to archaeologists was released to excavate sites that will be flooded by the new reservoir. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on 11 February"
"providing $300m and the Government of Pakistan $133.5m. The total cost of the project is $823.5m. Tarbela Dam Tarbela Dam (Urdu/Pashto: تربیلا بند) is an earth-filled dam on the Indus River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the largest earth-filled dam in the world, and also the largest dam by structural volume. Located in the Swabi and Haripur Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the dam is about from the city of Swabi, northwest of Islamabad, and east of Peshawar. The dam is high above the riverbed. It forms the Tarbela Reservoir, with a surface area of approximately . The dam was"
"Tarbela Dam Tarbela Dam (Urdu/Pashto: تربیلا بند) is an earth-filled dam on the Indus River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the largest earth-filled dam in the world, and also the largest dam by structural volume. Located in the Swabi and Haripur Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the dam is about from the city of Swabi, northwest of Islamabad, and east of Peshawar. The dam is high above the riverbed. It forms the Tarbela Reservoir, with a surface area of approximately . The dam was completed in 1976 and was designed to store water from the Indus River for irrigation, flood"
"the Syrian part of the Euphrates date to 1927, but these were not carried out. In 1957, an agreement was reached with the Soviet Union for technical and financial aid for the construction of a dam in the Euphrates, and in 1960 a financial agreement was signed with West Germany. Another agreement to finance the project was signed with the Soviet Union in 1965. The project included a hydroelectric power station in the Tabqa Dam, and the construction of a vast irrigation network capable of irrigating of land on both sides of the Euphrates. Construction of the dam lasted between"
"The SDF, moving to take Raqqa, positioned themselves around the city as part of the second phase of the operation. However, as part of this, they encountered IS forces dug in around the Tabqa Dam, west of Raqqa city. Because of the dam's fragility and strategic importance, the SDF could not immediately move on the dam, and there were concerns it could break and cause flooding. ISIL had threatened to open the floodgates if the dam was attacked, which would destroy many villages downstream. In late January 2017, it was reported that a number of ISIL militants were hiding inside"
"Raqqa campaign (2016–2017) The Raqqa campaign (codenamed Operation Wrath of Euphrates) was a military operation launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Raqqa Governorate, with the goal of isolating and eventually capturing the Islamic State's capital city, Raqqa. The SDF also completed their other main goals and captured the Tabqa Dam, the nearby city of al-Thawrah, and the Baath Dam further downstream. The offensive was concurrent with the Battle of al-Bab in the Aleppo Governorate, the Battle of Mosul, the Battle of Sirte (2016) in Libya, the Palmyra"
"Kayrakkum Dam The Kayrakkum Dam, also spelt variously as Kayrakum, Kairakum, Qayraqqum or Qayroqqum, is an embankment dam on the Syr Darya River near the town of Kayrakkum in Sughd Province, Tajikistan. It is situated on the western edge of the Fergana Valley and creates Kayrakkum Reservoir. The reservoir supplies water for irrigation, primarily in Uzbekistan downstream, and hydroelectric power production. The reservoir is also a Ramsar site. The dam's power station has an installed capacity of 126 MW and is operated by Barki Tojik. Construction on the dam began in 1952. It began to impound its reservoir in 1956"
"tracked those militants who fled and targeted those who could be killed without harming civilians. At 16:00 on that day, SDF commander Rojda Felat stated that the Tabqa Dam had been completely brought under control of the SDF. SDF conducted clearance operation after the capture and hunted for any remaining ISIL holdouts in addition to carrying out de-mining operations. Battle of Tabqa (2017) The Battle of Tabqa (2017) was an operation, part of the Raqqa campaign (2016–2017), dubbed ""Operation Wrath of Euphrates"", against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to recapture and secure Tabqa Dam, al-Thawrah city"
"launched by the SDF on 6 November 2016 in an effort to capture the city, and it has resulted in the SDF capturing a large amount of territory in the Raqqa Governorate from ISIL, including the city of al-Thawrah, and the infrastructure at Tabqa Dam, and Baath Dam. As many as 500 US special forces are operating on the ground in northern Syria in support of the Raqqa campaign. The US and other coalition members are supplying heavy weapons, intelligence collection, communications support and other assistance to the SDF as part of their intervention in the conflict. The battle began"
"Samarra Barrage Samarra Barrage () is a multi-purpose barrage on the Tigris River adjacent (west) of Samarra and north of Baghdad, Iraq. The main purpose of the dam is to divert floodwater in the Tigris River to Lake Tharthar through the Tharthar depression along with irrigation and an 84 MW hydro-electricity station. It also serves to produce hydroelectric power and flood control – although the later has become less critical with the construction of the Mosul Dam upstream and several other large dams in Turkey. It was completed in 1956 by the German company Züblin. Designs were completed by the"
"the eastern countryside of Raqqa. On 22 March, the SDF began an assault to capture the Tabqa Dam, al-Thawrah (Tabqa) city, and its airbase. Five hundred SDF fighters and five hundred US Special Forces from CJTF–OIR were airlifted by helicopters of the United States military, across the Euphrates River and Lake Assad, and were dropped on the Shurfa Peninsula to the west of Al-Thawrah. The attack was supported by artillery support from United States Marines, as well as air support. SDF and US forces also landed on the Jazirat al-'Ayd Island (or Peninsula) to the west of Tabqa Dam, capturing"
"1968 and 1973 and the flooding of the reservoir commenced in 1974 by reducing the flow of the Euphrates. The project was completed under the presidency of Hafez al-Assad as part of his modernization policies and agricultural reforms. In 1975, Iraq complained that the flow of the Euphrates had been reduced below an acceptable level and threatened to bomb the Tabqa Dam; mediation by Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union eventually settled this dispute. In anticipation of the flooding of the Tabqa Dam reservoir, an intensive, international program of archaeological rescue excavations was carried out in the threatened area between"
"Dibsi Faraj Dibsi Faraj is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Euphrates in Aleppo Governorate (Syria). The site was excavated as part of a larger international effort coordinated by UNESCO to excavate as many archaeological sites as possible in the area that would be flooded by the reservoir created by the Tabqa Dam, which was being built at that time. An initial, small archaeological sounding was done at Dibsi Faraj by the Syrian Department of Antiquities in 1971. Following this investigation, the site was excavated between 1972 and 1974 as part of a joint operation of the"
"it had been hit, while RIBSS (Raqqa is Silently Being Slaughtered) stated that ISIL was informing fleeing civilians that the dam was safe. Additionally, the US-led Coalition stated that the Tabqa Dam was structurally sound, and that the dam had not been targeted by any airstrikes. They also stated that the SDF controlled an emergency spillway at the northern part of the dam, which could be used in the event of an emergency. On the same day, SDF spokesman Talal Silo announced that SDF had stormed the Tabqa military airport, and had taken sixty to seventy percent of it. They"
"to block any advance on Raqqa by the Syrian Arab Army from the west. On the same day, SDF and US forces stormed the Tabqa Dam, triggering ""intense"" clashes with ISIL forces. US officials stated that it may take several weeks to capture Tabqa Dam, Al-Thawrah city, and the surrounding countryside from ISIL. Airstrikes by the coalition on Tabqa city were reported to have killed about 25 civilians. On 23 March, some early reports circulated that the SDF had captured Tabqa Dam from ISIL, after clashing with ISIL forces for a few hours. However, these reports were unconfirmed by other"
"to modernize Syria's agricultural and industrial sectors. One of Assad's main achievements was the completion of the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River in 1974. It is one of the biggest dams in the world, and its reservoir was called Lake Assad. The reservoir increased the irrigation of arable land, provided electricity, and encouraged industrial and technical development in Syria. Many peasants and workers received increased financial incomes, social security, and improved health and education services. The urban middle classes, who had been hurt by the Jadid government's policy, obtained new economic opportunities. By 1977, it become apparent that despite"
"Harbaqa Dam The Harbaqa Dam or Kharbaqa Dam () was a Roman era Palmyrene gravity dam in the Syrian desert about southwest from Palmyra on the road to Damascus. The dam, built of rubble, concrete, and dressed with ashlar stones, dates to the first or second century AD. The dam later was used as a water supply for the Umayyad palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi. The dam was built in the first/second-century AD by Palmyra. It was restored and used again by the Umayyads in the eighth century for irrigation purposes. It served as a major water supply for the"
"and most important river is the Euphrates, which represents more than 80 percent of Syria's water resources. Its main left-bank tributaries, the Balikh and the Khabur, are small perennial rivers that both rise in the Syro-Turkish border region. The right-bank tributaries of the Euphrates are mostly small seasonal streams called wadis. In 1973, Syria completed construction of the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River upstream from the town of Raqqa. The dam created a reservoir named Lake Assad (Buhayrat al Assad), a body of water about 80 kilometers long and averaging eight kilometers in width. Throughout the arid plateau region"
"Raqqa Raqqa ( '; Kurdish: ""Reqa""), also called Raqa, Rakka and Al-Raqqah, is a city in Syria located on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum (formerly a Latin and now a Maronite Catholic titular see) was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. With a population of 220,488 based on the 2004 official census, Raqqa was the sixth largest city in Syria. During the Syrian Civil"
"Haditha Dam The Haditha Dam () or Qadisiya Dam is an earth-fill dam on the Euphrates, north of Haditha (Iraq), creating Lake Qadisiyah (). The dam is just over long and high. The purpose of the dam is to generate hydroelectricity, regulate the flow of the Euphrates and provide water for irrigation. It is the second-largest hydroelectric contributor to the power system in Iraq behind the Mosul Dam. The Haditha Dam project was conceived in the late 1960s; construction began in 1977. The dam embankment was designed by the Soviet Union's Ministry of Energy, with its power station and equipment"
"the structure of Tabqa Dam, with senior militant leaders who used to be ""very important prisoners"" wanted by the US and several other countries, in order to deter a possible US-led coalition strike on these targets. Probing attacks took place in January 2017, when US Special Forces crossed the Euphrates in amphibious raids, including the raid against ISIL by combined SDF and US Special Forces on the Tabqa Dam and the nearby city of al-Thawrah. Following the raids, ISIL counterattacked the SDF positions, but the counterattacks were largely repelled. On 22 March, the SDF began an assault to capture the"
"Tabqa Dam, al-Thawrah (Tabqa) city, and the Tabqa Airbase. 500 SDF fighters and 500 US Special Forces from CJTF–OIR were airlifted by helicopters of the United States military across the Euphrates river and Lake Assad, and were dropped on the Shurfa Peninsula to the west of Tabqa city. The attack was supported by artillery support from United States Marines, as well as air support. SDF and US forces also landed on the Jazirat al-'Ayd Island (or Peninsula) to the west of Tabqa Dam, capturing it as well. An anti-ISIL coalition spokesman announced that the advance had cut off the highway"
"ISIL. However, the entrance to the dam's control rooms was too well defended, and with the continued threat of disastrous flooding downstream, SDF and the US forces withdrew from both the Tabqa Dam and the town of Al-Thawrah, after which ISIL closed the dam's turbines again. Over the next three days, ISIL repeatedly launched fierce counter-attacks against SDF positions in the western and northern countryside. ISIL managed to retake ground in the area around the dam, but the attack was later repelled. On 31 January 2017, the SDF received a number of armoured personnel carriers supplied by the US. The"
"of the village, and captured it on 22 January after heavy clashes, with the support of U.S. special forces. In late January 2017, it was reported that a number of ISIL militants were hiding inside the structure of the Tabqa Dam, including senior militant leaders who used to be ""very important prisoners"" wanted by the US and several other countries, in order to deter a possible US-led coalition strike on them. On 23 January, the SDF began to advance on the Tabqa Dam, spurring ISIL to open its turbines to raise the Euphrates River's water levels. This was seen as"
"appears to be that the land around the second location (1973 – February 2015) of the tomb is or was the sovereign territory of Turkey. Turkey required visitors to the site to carry passports. However, there is no evidence to date that other countries, including Syria, have publicly supported this position. The Syrian position is that the latest relocation of the tomb in February 2015 (to its third location) is a breach of the Treaty of Ankara. In 1973, the area around castle Qal'at Ja'bar, with the location of the tomb, was due to be flooded when the Tabqa Dam"
"was a ""game changer"". On 11 February, Islamist rebels captured the town of Al-Thawrah in Raqqa Governorate and the nearby Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam and a key source of hydroelectricity. The next day, rebel forces took control of Jarrah air base, located east of Aleppo. On 14 February, al-Nusra Front fighters took control of Shadadeh, a town in Al-Hasakah Governorate near the Iraqi border. On 20 February 2013, a car bomb exploded in Damascus near the Ba'ath Syrian Regional Branch headquarters, killing at least 53 people and injuring more than 235. No group claimed responsibility. On 21 February, the"