Taking advantage of the deepening chaos in Syria in the final months of 2024, the Turkish state and affiliated armed mercenary groups occupied Shahba, Tel Rifaat and Manbij on November 27. From December 8 onward, they launched intense air and ground attacks targeting the Tishrin Dam and the Qereqozak Bridge.
The aim was clear: to strategically paralyze the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and completely occupy the region.
In response to these attacks, not only military forces but also the people themselves mounted a historic resistance. On January 8, 2025, following a call by the Autonomous Administration, tens of thousands of civilians set out toward the Tishrin Dam despite heavy bombardment and drone attacks. The convoys were struck, civilians were massacred, and journalists and healthcare workers were directly targeted. Yet despite all these attacks, the people did not retreat; the dam was reached and a watch resistance that would last 118 days began.
Dozens of different groups from the Euphrates, Jazira, Tabqa, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor cantons took turns maintaining the vigil under harsh winter conditions. The resistance became not only a line of defense, but also a social and political stance.
Despite the freezing cold of winter, the resistance fighters marked the anniversary of the international conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan on February 15; Öcalan’s “Call for Peace and a Democratic Society” on February 27; the tenth anniversary of Kobanê’s liberation from ISIS gangs; International Working Women’s Day on March 8; the anniversary of the Syrian popular uprising on March 15; Newroz on March 21; Ramadan and its holiday; and April 4, Öcalan’s birthday—all at the dam under attack.
Women, young and old people; Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Syriacs, Armenians and all the peoples of the region united around a common will.
From January 8 to May 5, the resistance was subjected to hundreds of attacks. Despite this, eight groups from the Euphrates Canton, seven from the Tabqa, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor cantons, and nineteen different groups from the Jazira Canton participated in the resistance watch at the dam.
In these attacks, at least 24 civilians, including one journalist and three healthcare workers, were killed, while more than 200 people were wounded, including seven journalists and three healthcare workers.
On May 5, 2025, the Autonomous Administration announced that the watch resistance had achieved its goal and come to an end. The Tishrin Resistance had thwarted occupation plans and demonstrated to the world that the peoples of the region could struggle together.
Today, even though one year has passed since the Tishrin Resistance, the struggle of the peoples continues. Despite ongoing threats of attack and political pressure against the peoples of the region, particularly by the occupying Turkish state and HTS, the shared consciousness of resistance that emerged in Tishrin lives on.
Reaffirming their commitment to the memory of the martyrs, the peoples of the region say: “What we defended in Tishrin was not just a dam, but a dignified and free life.”
Hundreds of people from cities such as Kobanê, Jazira, Tabqa, Raqqa, Qamishlo, Amuda, Hasakah and Derik flocked to the Tishrin Dam on January 8, at a time when the fighting was intense.