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.
Syria Kurds say struck deal with Damascus on battleground dam
https://arab.news/z6t87
Syria Kurds say struck deal with Damascus on battleground dam
- Kurdish-led fighters of the SDF will pull back from the Tishrin Dam
- Dam is one of several on the Euphrates that play a key role in Syria’s economy
Tehran residents keep up semblance of normality amid destruction
- Chaotic scenes followed of panicked passers-by, parents scrambling to retrieve their children from school, queues at bakeries and endless traffic jams
- A week on, the noise and energy have ebbed, giving way to a rare, disquieting calm in a capital usually thronging with 10 million people
TEHRAN: For a moment Tehran resembled a city at peace, with birdsong, joggers and tranquil views of the snow-capped Alborz mountains in the distance. Then the sound of another explosion ripped through the air.
A week ago, opening strikes by the US and Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, upended residents’ lives and transformed the city streets into a battleground.
In Tehran’s west, a block that belonged to the security forces had been blasted apart, and the entire surrounding area was choked with rubble.
Bizarrely, a green gate and fence enclosing the site stood untouched.
None were surprised by the war, and few had believed the nuclear talks then taking place between Iran and the US would avert it.
The broad-daylight strike at the country’s power center was nevertheless a shock.
Chaotic scenes followed of panicked passers-by, parents scrambling to retrieve their children from school, queues at bakeries and endless traffic jams.
A week on, the noise and energy have ebbed, giving way to a rare, disquieting calm in a capital usually thronging with 10 million people.
The city is at times granted breaks of a few peaceful hours before another string of explosions shatters the air.
- Mushroom clouds -
Another block, this one in the city center, had also been gutted.
Men stood guard, some of them heavily armed despite their apparent youth.
The blast was powerful enough to sow chaos through a nearby primary school, breaking windows and carpeting the playground with rocks and rubble.
Dust coated a row of motorbikes parked nearby.
In another neighborhood, only the steel framework of a bombed-out building had survived, still supporting a massive antenna on the roof.
Local people busied themselves with clearing away the rubble and recovering a few possessions.
They loaded salvageable sofas and home appliances onto decrepit blue pickup trucks in the unmistakable 1960s design of local brand Zamyad.
On the horizon, yet another black mushroom cloud reached skywards.
- ‘Ramadan War’ -
In the first days of the war, Tehran could seem like a ghost town.
But pedestrians were again venturing outdoors: a father walking with his daughter on a scooter, children playing with a ball, or locals sunning themselves in a park.
Runners and cyclists resumed their exercise. More shops were open again.
But the semblance of normality is skin-deep.
Along major roads, armed men in plain clothes and others in military fatigues and body armor inspected random cars at checkpoints.
The blockades made for traffic jams on the avenues, where other traffic was mostly restricted to scooters and delivery riders.
Forbidding armored vehicles appeared on high alert, one of them flying the banner of the Islamic republic.
At prayer time, armed Revolutionary Guards checked the faithful as they filed into a mosque.
One week after his death, posters and placards bearing Khamenei’s image were everywhere on the streets.
Some walls bore street art-style portraits in his honor that appeared in recent days.
In a neighborhood grocery shop, one employee was anxiously following the latest in what state TV had dubbed the “Ramadan War” across the Middle East.
