Tishreen Dam
Dam and hydroelectric scheme, 1,900 million m3 reservoir; 630 MW across six turbines in Syria.
Operational
The record
- Country
- Syria
- Location
- Sarrin
- Coordinates
- 36.381, 38.186
- Technology
- Dam and hydroelectric scheme
- Capacity
- 1,900 million m3 reservoir; 630 MW across six turbines
- Capital cost
- —
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- —
- Contractor
- —
- Operator
- —
- Finance
- —
- Award or start year
- 1999
- Commissioned
- 1999
Record last checked 2026-10-11.
History
- 1991
Construction starts on the Euphrates
- 1999
Dam completed with 630 MW across six turbines
- 2024-12
Dam becomes non-operational on 10 December amid hostilities
- 2025-01
Still non-functional after six weeks, with 413,000 people deprived of water and electricity
- 2025-04
Transitional government and the SDF agree a phased handover of the dam area
- 2026-01
Reconnected to the national power grid on 31 January for the first time in a year
Sources
12 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- ESCWA and BGR, Inventory of Shared Water Resources in Western Asia, Chapter 1, Euphrates River Basin (2013). waterinventory.org.
- Table 3 gives Syria, Tishreen, 1999, 1,900 million m3, hydropower.
- Vakur Sumer, ORSAM, War over Tishreen Dam (12 Jan 2016). orsam.org.tr.
- Construction started 1991 and completed 1999; capacity 630 MW with six turbines; height 40 metres; the main purpose is hydropower and it supplies most of the electricity of northern Syria.
- UN OCHA, Syrian Arab Republic Flash Update No. 12 on recent developments (21 Jan 2025). reliefweb.int.
- The Tishreen Dam has been non-functional for six weeks, depriving 413,000 people in Menbij and Ain al-Arab of water and electricity, with hostilities hindering repair efforts.
- FDD's Long War Journal (15 Apr 2025). longwarjournal.org.
- Records an agreement for the SDF to withdraw and transfer control to Damascus general security forces.
- Coordinates from OpenStreetMap.
- The dam is recorded as out of service (built and operated, not pipeline) because the last verified state is non-operational from 10 December 2024, and no source opened confirms a restart.
- SANA, 31 Jan 2026. sana.sy.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
The dam has been reconnected to Syria's national power grid for the first time in a year; its turbines are now able to generate electricity.