Administration of North and East Syria denies rumors of Turkey increasing flow of Euphrates River and reassures people about readiness of dams to absorb any increase

RAQQA, Syria — A technical supervisor at the Euphrates Dam in Raqqa, North and East Syria, denied rumors about an increase in the water flow of the Euphrates River coming from Turkey as a result of the earthquake and stated that the dams in North and East Syria along the Euphrates River are ready to absorb any increase in water quantities.

The official Facebook page of the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA) published a video statement by a technical supervisor at the Euphrates Dam, Imad Obaid. He stated that rumors about Turkey increasing the flow of the Euphrates River into Syria is untrue. The water level and downstream flow of the Euphrates remain unchanged, he said. 

Obeid stated that the Euphrates and Tishreen dams are relatively empty of water, and are ready at the same time to absorb the water valley from Turkey, regardless of its quantity, in the event of an increase. There is a severe shortage in the water reserves of the two dams, he said.

Obeid reassured the people that there is no danger to the structural integrity of the dam, adding that, “the technical teams of the Euphrates Dam are ready to deal with any increase in the water level of the Euphrates River.”

Some local and Turkish media reports have recently circulated news of Turkey opening some of its giant dams on the Euphrates River as a result of the earthquake, due to its fear of cracking  dams storing very large amounts of Euphrates water at the expense of the shares of both Syria and Iraq.