ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Protests against strikes on Tishreen Dam continue amid growing international criticism of Syrian militias carrying out the attacks, most recently from Human Rights Watch, which on Thursday said a recent drone strike on an ambulance was “an apparent war crime.”
“A drone strike by the Turkiye-Syrian National Army (SNA) coalition that hit a Kurdish Red Crescent ambulance on January 18, 2025, in northern Syria is an apparent war crime,” said Human Rights Watch.
The ambulance was transporting an injured protester from Tishreen Dam when it was hit, the Kurdish Red Crescent wrote in a statement following the attack. The driver, a nurse, and the injured person were all able to escape.
“According to international law, targeting the injured, paramedics, ambulances, and civilians constitutes a flagrant war crime. This is precisely what the Turkish state and its allied factions have been committing openly before the world since the beginning of the campaign targeting
Manbij and its eastern countryside,” said the Kurdish Red Crescent.
Tishreen Dam, located on the Euphrates River near the northern Syria city of Manbij, has for weeks come under attacks by Turkey and the SNA militia groups it supports. Strong resistance from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has so far prevented their advance.
“On Thursday, Turkish warplanes launched several airstrikes near the Tishreen Dam, southeast of Manbij, while also subjecting the area to heavy artillery bombardment,” the SDF wrote in a Friday statement about recent attacks around the dam.
A takeover of the dam could help Ankara and the SNA easily advance to other parts of the Kurdish-held northeast Syria (Rojava).
Rojava authorities have warned that constant attacks on the dam could lead to the collapse of the structure, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Groups of civilians have traveled to the dam to stage protests. Fifty-one civilians have been killed, according to conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Yet the protests continue with hundreds of people traveling to the dam on Friday morning, reported ANHA news agency.
Human Rights Watch also condemned the attacks on the civilian protests.
“Drone footage published by an SNA-affiliated Telegram channel on January 22, verified by Human Rights Watch, shows two small air-dropped munitions explode in a crowd of men and women at Tishreen Dam, where they were protesting and doing a traditional Kurdish dance in a line. A caption says: ‘The armed drone sends congratulations and blessings to the SDF celebrations at Tishreen Dam,’” the watchdog stated, adding that Turkey is obligated to “rein in” the SNA.
Earlier this month, the International Committee of the Red Cross, said dams have special protection under international humanitarian law and should not be attacked.
Ankara has labeled the armed Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) in northeast Syria as terrorists and a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and considers them a threat to Turkey’s security.
“Our heroic Turkish Armed Forces neutralized 6 PKK terrorists it identified in the Gara region of northern Iraq and 7 PKK/YPG terrorists it identified in the Peace Spring and Euphrates Shield regions of northern Syria,” the Turkish defense ministry said on Friday.
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