Tuwayhina : Syrian farmers near the Euphrates river are terrified the Islamic State group will literally open the floodgates to defend its stronghold Raqa, drowning their tiny villages in the process.
Water levels of the Euphrates, which snakes down through northern Syria and east into Iraq, have shot up over the past month near the jihadist group’s de facto capital, Raqa city. Residents of the modest farming villages scattered on the river’s eastern bank say they are afraid the jihadists will destroy the Tabqa dam, Syria’s largest, to slow advancing anti-IS forces. “If IS goes through with its threat of blowing up the Tabqa dam, then all areas around the southern part of the river could be under water,” said Abu Hussein, 67.
He spoke to AFP in Tuwayhina, a small village that was recently recaptured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces east of the river and around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the dam.
Abu Hussein said “hundreds of villages and fields” could be submerged if IS opens the gates of the dam, which lies 50 km upstream from Raqa city. “They don’t even fear God. And if someone doesn’t fear God, then I’m afraid of him.” The Tabqa dam sits 500 metres (yards) from the eponymous town, an IS stronghold since 2014 where many of its most senior commanders are based.
Tabqa is a key target of the SDF’s months-long drive for Raqa, and its fighters have already advanced to just five kilometres from the town. “We’re hearing that Daesh is planning on blowing up the Tabqa dam,” said Raheel Hassan Mahmoud, 58, in the arid village of Bir Hamad, using an Arabic acronym for IS. “If this happens, it means most of Raqa and Deir Ezzor will drown, while other towns die of thirst and crops and livestock die,” he told AFP. Hassan, a 35-year-old in nearby Bir Hassan, said he expected IS would flood the villages as a last resort. “It could open up the dam’s gates to cover itself as it withdraws, in case it’s no longer able to resist in the area,” he said. The UN’s humanitarian coordination agency (OCHA) says water levels have risen 10 metres since late January. The UN said the increase was “partly due to heavy rainfall and snow”. But it also pointed at air strikes near the dam, which could lead to massive scale flooding. -AP
