First looted in 2015, last remnants Syria’s Zayzoun Power Station dismantled and sold for scrap

HAMA, Syria – After the Turkish occupation stopped their funding, the Islamist militants of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) dismantled what remained of the Zayzoun Power Station in the Hama countryside, one of the most important power stations in Syria, and sold the material to Turkish merchants for scrap.

In June 2015, the station came under the control Jaysh al-Fateh who looted what equipment it could and sold it on the black market. Over the past five years, the station has been slowly dismantled and sold for scrap by various groups to raise funds.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), what was left of the pillaged power station was sold by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham at auction in early April.

On Wednesday, TIP transported heavy machinery to the station and was seen dismantling the stations cooling tower, the last remaining structure of the plant.

After having their funding cutoff by Turkey, TIP has resorted to looting to raise funds. In April, the group excavated metal irrigation pipes in the Sahl al-Ghab area in the Hama countryside.

Completed in 1998, Zayzoun Power Station was, at the time, the largest power plant in Syria, producing up to 128 megawatts of electricity. It used to serve large areas of the Hama, Idlib, Latakia, and Tartus governorates.