The fighting in northern Syria continued on Monday, with another offensive by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) on the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area. The Kurdish SDF, which controls the area, repelled the offensive.
Despite losing the gateway town of Manbij in early Turkish-backed offensives, the SDF has successfully defended the Tishreen Dam area. Already over 440 fighters have been killed on both sides in just the month and a half since the fall of the al-Assad Syrian government.
The SNA suffered heavy losses in today’s push, with the SDF reporting 29 SNA killed and 15 others wounded. Earlier in the day, eight SDF fighters were reported killed in what may be a preliminary count.
Tishreen Dam has been a primary goal of Turkey’s offensive in recent weeks. It is one of two major dams on the Syrian part of the Euphrates River. The two dams are the primary source of drinking water and electricity in SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, and it is believed Turkey intends to use those dams as leverage to force the Kurds to disarm.
Since assuming power in Syria last month, the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) de facto government in Syria has supported the anti-Kurd offensives. Now it is reported that an HTS military convoy arrived on the front lines at the dam on Monday and is preparing to join the battle.
In response, Kurdish civilians have been holding sit-in protests at the Tishreen Dam, calling for the international community to stop the attacks and warning the fall of the dam would be a humanitarian crisis.
Turkey in turn has attacked these sit-ins, and killed Syrian Kurdish political leader Menije Hado on Sunday, and on Monday reportedly killed Kurdish artist and filmmaker Bafi Tyar. The flagrant attacks on civilian demonstrations has fueled public protests in the Syrian town of Amuda and in surrounding villages.
