Rebels Seize Syria's Largest Dam
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
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 Agence France Presse.
"This is the biggest economic loss for the regime since the start of the revolution," Abdel Rahman said of the hydraulic dam, which generates 880 megawatts 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, possibly flooding surrounding villages.
According to the ministry of water resources website, the Euphrates dam is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) long, 19 meters (21 yards) high and 512 meters (560 yards) wide.
It holds back Lake Assad -- named for Hafez Assad, the father and predecessor of the current president Bashar Assad -- a 14.1 billion cubic meter (500 billion cubic feet) body of water.
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 inhabited by the employees and their families, the Observatory said.
The watchdog noted that the fighters met little resistance in the town, while loyalist security chiefs had fled on board military helicopters from the local airbase.
11 February 2013, 13:22
24
Tic tic tic, the clock is running out. Slowly but surely. Bashar still has the chance of saving Syria and agreeing to a controlled exit. But it seems that he and his supporters are either too arrogant or stupid to care.
11 February 2013, 13:56
32
mowaten, it might be ticking slow.. but it is ticking... there is now way Assad is getting out of this.. how long it takes i really dont care.. point is eventually he will go.
11 February 2013, 13:59
32
I have never said it is going to be fast. When a Syrian friend of mine told me it will be few weeks or couple of months, I told him several years as this regime will use unlimited force against its people.
11 February 2013, 15:38
21
like i said.. time will tell.. im in no hurry... on the contrary...
11 February 2013, 20:38
10
and M8 minimized for months the importance of the revolution saying it was nothing and it ll soon be over. but rebels are still holding despite the use of heavy weaponry from assad that he never used against israel.
i guess it makes M8 proud that he is a true resistant against his people but not against israel....
11 February 2013, 15:13
23
Damn! They seized a dam! Now it really looks like gabby876's daily predictions since 2005 that the "ASSad" regime WILL fall the following Wednesday (and sometimes the following Saturday or Thursday or... You get the idea.) is finally becoming a... well... umm... duh... a very, very, very remote possibility? Damn this dam. At least the rebels can wait 48 years until this damn collects enough water and then flood "ASSad" and his regime and navigate them into oblivion! You go, gabbaguybo!
12 February 2013, 03:51
20
Ya jahel, revolutions rake years: Algerian, French, Afghan is against Russia etc. People like you never believed revolution would reach Aleppo or Damascus and now both airports shut down. Think where the rebels were two years ago and where they ate tofay. Just imagine where the rebels would be by summer 2013-14. 'Sit tight' because you will drink salt water and few years from now the battle would be in qerda7a.
12 February 2013, 05:18
20
Nazi, inhumane m8ers: you will wake up one day and Damascus is back in Arab suni hands and no longer in Iran's. This is the truth that you have to come to terms with, and this the natural course of history: minority rule comes to an end. Otherwise you can drink from the sea all you want
