BEIRUT: The Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have struck a deal with the central government on running a key dam they captured from extremists with US support, a Kurdish source said Thursday.
“An agreement has been reached between the autonomous administration and the Syrian government for the management of the Tishrin Dam” on the Euphrates River, the source told AFP.
Under the agreement, Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces will pull back from the dam which they captured from the Daesh group in late 2015, the source said.
Fighters loyal to the new Islamist-led government in Damascus established after the December overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar Assad will take over security and a joint administration will run the dam.
The dam is one of several on the Euphrates and its tributaries in Syria that play a key role in the nation’s economy by providing it with water for irrigation and hydro-electric power.
It was a key battleground in the civil war that broke out in 2011, falling first to rebels and then to IS before being captured by the SDF.
Days after Assad’s overthrow, it was targeted by Turkish drone strikes that killed dozens of civilians, Kurdish officials and Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Kurdish source said the dam deal was the latest step in implementing a March agreement with Damascus to integrate the institutions of the autonomous Kurdish administration into those of the central government.
The deal already saw Kurdish fighters withdraw from two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of the main northern city of Aleppo earlier this month.
It has also seen a reduction in the presence of pro-Turkiye fighters in the historically Kurdish-majority northwestern region of Afrin.
There was no immediate word from the Damascus government on the dam deal.
The Observatory said the new joint committee would supervise the necessary repairs to the dam.
It said some Kurdish security agents would take part in the new security teams for the dam, alongside agents of the central government.