One year has passed since the Tishrin Dam resistance, during which a major struggle was waged against the mercenaries of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Turkish-state-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).
The attacks began after HTS and SNA mercenaries launched an offensive toward Aleppo on 27 November 2024 and escalated with the fall of Damascus on 8 December, when assaults on the Tishrin Dam started. On 8 January 2025, as the peoples of Northern and Eastern Syria gathered at the Tishrin Dam, the resistance turned into a revolutionary people’s war. On 5 May 2025, the command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Women’s Protection Units announced that the Tishrin resistance had achieved victory in the face of attacks by HTS and SNA mercenaries.
SDF fighters spoke to the ANF on the first anniversary of the Tishrin Dam resistance, stressing that the nearly five-month-long resistance became the “Stalingrad and the Dimdim Castle resistance” of the peoples of Northern and Eastern Syria.
Peoples unable to defend themselves always face massacres
Mazlum Zexirî, one of the fighters who took part on the front lines of the Tishrin resistance, said the peoples of Northern and Eastern Syria proved through the Tishrin resistance that victory can be achieved through a revolutionary people’s war.
He said: “During the Tishrin resistance, I first joined the struggle around Syrian Tel Hill. I later took my place in the resistance in the village of Qelqel. Despite all aerial strikes and every form of technical attack, we stood in resistance together with our people. The Tishrin resistance is a joint struggle of fighters of the SDF and the peoples of Northern and Eastern Syria. It is proof that victory can be won through revolutionary people’s war. The resistance and sacrifice shown by our people in Tishrin gave us strength, and we expanded this resistance by drawing morale and power from our people. The Tishrin resistance showed that the unity of the people and the fighters is never defeated and always leads to victory.
For this reason, our people must unite around their defense forces, the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), and the Asayish Forces and must believe in these forces. Our people should know very well that people without their own self-defense forces always face massacres and attacks. Recent history bears witness to this. The massacre carried out in 2014 in Shengal by the ISIS, whose members are now within the ranks of the SNA and HTS, and the massacres committed last March by HTS–SNA mercenaries against the Alawite people once again showed that defenseless peoples will always face massacre and genocidal attacks. For this reason, our people must support and strengthen their self-defense forces, and the peoples living in Syria must organize based on self-defense and protect themselves.”
The will of the mercenaries was broken through the Tishrin resistance
Demhat Rojava, who took part in the Tishrin resistance, said the resistance ended with a victory for the people.
Emphasizing that a powerful spirit emerged during the struggle at the Tishrin Dam, Rojava said: “A great resistance took place at the Tishrin Dam, and a powerful spirit emerged. Despite the Turkish state’s unmanned aerial vehicles and armed drones, its warplanes, tanks, and artillery, the mercenaries of HTS and the SNA hit the wall of the peoples at the Tishrin Dam. Together with our people, a rare and historic resistance was waged in Tishrin, reminiscent of Stalingrad and the resistance of Dimdim Castle. Despite deploying all its technical capabilities, the enemy failed in the face of this spirit of resistance. While Tishrin broke the will of HTS and SNA mercenaries, it also gave great morale to the peoples of Northern and Eastern Syria. Through the Tishrin resistance, the invincibility of the strategy of the revolutionary people’s war was once again proven.”
We were all united heart
Dilşêr Tirpespî, an Arab fighter within the SDF, said that all fighters who took part in the struggle in Tishrin resisted self-sacrificially to defend their peoples and their lands.
He said: “I was among the first group to reach the Tishrin Dam. When we arrived, the mercenaries of HTS and the SNA, particularly the Turkish-state-backed al-Amshat groups, had already reached the Tishrin Dam. We immediately gathered our forces, made our plans, and divided into teams across the fronts and positions, because we were a fighting force that had trained and prepared itself for war. At the Tishrin Dam, we put up a major resistance against the attacks of HTS and SNA mercenaries backed by the Turkish state. Each of our comrades advanced against the mercenaries in a self-sacrificial spirit and dealt heavy blows to the enemy. Although the mercenaries possessed technical capabilities, their lack of organization and discipline meant they suffered major defeats in the face of our comrades. We are not forced in love with war, but for our people and our lands we are always ready to fight to the last drop of our blood. In the Tishrin resistance, Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, Armenian, Yazidi, and Alawite fighters fought together in the same positions against the mercenaries. We were united around a single purpose, with one heart. Our aim was the freedom and defense of our people and our lands, and no force can attack the values we have created in Northern and Eastern Syria.”