Deployment of Government Forces in Northern Syria – Security Reinforced as Part of Agreement with Kurds
Damascus, April 13:
The new Syrian government has deployed state security forces at the strategically important Tishrin Dam in northern Syria. The country’s state news agency SANA reported on Saturday: “The Syrian Arab Army and security forces have entered the Tishrin Dam... to ensure security, in accordance with the agreement made with the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces).”
Under this agreement, the Kurdish-led SDF will withdraw its forces from the dam area. Notably, the SDF had captured the dam from ISIS (Daesh) in 2015.
The Tishrin Dam is located near the city of Manbij in Syria’s Aleppo province and is a vital hydroelectric power source and irrigation facility situated on the Euphrates River.
A Kurdish source said the agreement was brokered under the supervision of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition and stipulates that while the dam will remain under Kurdish civil administration, security will be jointly handled by a combined military force.
SANA further reported that a joint security force will be formed under the agreement to protect the dam, and “any forces that attempt to disrupt the agreement will be withdrawn.”
The agreement is part of a broader political settlement signed in March between President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi. Its goal is to bring various Kurdish autonomous administrative institutions under central government authority.
It is worth noting that the Tishrin Dam was a major battleground in the Syrian civil war that began in 2011. It was first seized by ISIS and later recaptured by the SDF.
However, following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the rise to power of the coalition led by Al-Sharaa, the dam has once again become a target—this time of Turkish drone strikes. These strikes reportedly killed several civilians and Kurdish officials, according to the UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Analysts suggest that the agreement marks a turning point not only in Syria’s internal political reconciliation but also in the broader dynamics of Turkey-Syria relations, Kurdish security, and international geopolitics.
