Kurdish-led administration, Damascus to jointly manage Syria’s Tishrin Dam

Shafaq News/ Syria’s Kurdish-led administration and the Syrian government have agreed to jointly manage the Tishrin Dam, a key hydroelectric facility in northern Syria.

A Kurdish source told AFP on Thursday that as part of the agreement, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will fully withdraw from the dam site, which will be placed under the security control of a newly formed joint authority. The management of the dam will be shared between the two sides based on mutually agreed terms.

The deal also allows the autonomous administration to lead efforts to repair and maintain the dam, in coordination with international partners, to ensure the sustainability of its vital services. Security for the facility will be provided by teams composed of both Kurdish internal security personnel and members of the joint authority, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The agreement builds on a broader political and military understanding reached on March 11 between SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and Syria’s transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa. That deal triggered the withdrawal of hundreds of Kurdish fighters from neighborhoods in Aleppo and reduced the presence of Turkish-backed factions in the Kurdish-majority Afrin region.

Tishrin Dam, located near the city of Manbij in Aleppo province, is a key infrastructure asset that provides electricity to wide areas of Syria and serves as a strategic gateway to the eastern Euphrates region, which remains under Kurdish-led control.

Since December, the dam has been targeted in multiple drone strikes—allegedly carried out by Turkish forces—causing civilian casualties, Kurdish officials and the Syrian Observatory said. Armed groups aligned with Ankara have also launched attacks around the dam, escalating tensions in the already volatile region.