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49-593: The course of the Khabur can be divided into two distinct zones: the Upper Khabur area or Khabur Triangle north of Al-Hasakah, and the Middle and Lower Khabur between Al-Hasakah and Busayrah. The tributaries to the Khabur are listed from east to west. Most of these wadis only carry water for part of the year. The river was well noted by ancient writers, with various names used by various writers: Ptolemy and Pliny

98-619: A bunker buster , failed to detonate. An emergency ceasefire between the Islamic State, US forces, and the Syrian government, otherwise sworn enemies, enabled engineers to make emergency repairs to the dam to prevent it from failing while the Turkish authorities coordinated to close the gates of dams upstream in order to prevent overtopping. A US drone strike killed three of the civilian emergency dam workers shortly thereafter. On March 29

147-798: A distinctive painted ware found in northern Mesopotamia and Syria in the early 2nd millennium BCE, called Khabur ware . The region of the Khabur River is also associated with the rise of the Kingdom of the Mitanni that flourished c. 1500–1300 BC. The Khabur River is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: " Tiglath-Pileser ... took the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor (Khabur), Hara and

196-430: A floodgate was opened by emergency workers, causing flooding downstream which displaced approximately 3,000 people. A second floodgate was opened on April 5, mitigating risk of collapse. If the dam had failed major flooding would have extended past Deir ez-Zor, more than 100 miles downstream. SDF forces announced they captured the dam on 10 May 2017. The Tabqa dam is located on a spot where rocky outcrops on each side of

245-401: A protective glacis was built around the castle Qal'at Ja'bar . The castle was located on a hilltop that would not be flooded, but the lake would turn it in an island. The castle is now connected to the shore by a causeway. In 1971, with support from UNESCO, Syria appealed to the international community to participate in the efforts to salvage as many archaeological remains as possible before

294-412: A result, only 60,000 hectares (230 sq mi) were irrigated from Lake Assad in 1984. In 2000, the irrigated surface had risen to 124,000 hectares (480 sq mi), which is 19 percent of the projected 640,000 hectares (2,500 sq mi). Due to lower than expected water flow from Turkey, as well as lack of maintenance, the dam generates only 150 MW instead of 800 MW. Lake Assad

343-491: A result. Wadis tend to be associated with centers of human population because sub-surface water is sometimes available in them. Nomadic and pastoral desert peoples will rely on seasonal vegetation found in wadis, even in regions as dry as the Sahara , as they travel in complex transhumance routes. The centrality of wadis to water – and human life – in desert environments gave birth to the distinct sub-field of wadi hydrology in

392-658: A river of importance, and Ammianus states that Julian the Apostate crossed it "per navalem Aborae pontem". Strabo describes it as near the town of Anthemusias . The river is fed by several smaller streams, the names of which are mentioned by the later classical writers. These are, the Scirtus (Procop. de Aedif. 2.7), the Cordes (Procop. de Aedif. 2.2), and the Mygdonius ( Julian . Or. i.). Ptolemy (5.18.6) mentions

441-791: A town called Chabora (Χαβώρα), on the Euphrates, which he places near Nicephorion , and which probably derives its name from the river, and Theophylact Simocatta mentions Ἀβορέων φρούριον, which is, as certainly, the same place. Since the 1930s, numerous archaeological excavations and surveys have been carried out in the Khabur Valley, indicating that the region has been occupied since the Lower Palaeolithic period. Important sites that have been excavated include Tell Halaf , Tell Brak , Tell Leilan , Tell Mashnaqa , Tell Mozan and Tell Barri . The region has given its name to

490-837: A wet ( ephemeral ) riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Arroyo ( Spanish ) is used in the Americas for similar landforms. The term wādī is very widely found in Arabic toponyms . Some Spanish toponyms are derived from Andalusian Arabic where wādī was used to mean a permanent river, for example: Guadalcanal from wādī al-qanāl ( Arabic : وَادِي الْقَنَال , "river of refreshment stalls"), Guadalajara from wādī al-ḥijārah ( Arabic : وَادِي الْحِجَارَة , "river of stones"), or Guadalquivir , from al-wādī al-kabīr ( Arabic : اَلْوَادِي الْكَبِير , "the great river"). Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on

539-709: A wide range of sedimentary structures, including ripples and common plane beds. Gravels commonly display imbrications , and mud drapes show desiccation cracks. Wind activity also generates sedimentary structures, including large-scale cross-stratification and wedge-shaped cross-sets. A typical wadi sequence consists of alternating units of wind and water sediments; each unit ranging from about 10–30 cm (4–12 in). Sediment laid by water shows complete fining upward sequence. Gravels show imbrication. Wind deposits are cross-stratified and covered with mud-cracked deposits. Some horizontal loess may also be present. Modern English usage differentiates wadis from canyons or washes by

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588-416: Is 125  RPM , and they can potentially generate 103 MW each. Lake Assad is 80 kilometres (50 mi) long and on average 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) wide. The reservoir can potentially hold 11.7 cubic kilometres (2.8 cu mi) of water, at which size its surface area would be 610 square kilometres (240 sq mi). Annual evaporation is 1.3 cubic kilometres (0.31 cu mi) due to

637-420: Is 9.6 cubic kilometres (2.3 cu mi), with a surface area of 447 square kilometres (173 sq mi). The proposed irrigation scheme suffered from a number of problems, including the high gypsum content in the reclaimed soils around Lake Assad, soil salinization , the collapse of canals that distributed the water from Lake Assad, and the unwillingness of farmers to resettle in the reclaimed areas. As

686-441: Is Syria's main wheat -cultivation area. The northeastern part is also the center for Syria's oil production. Wadi Wadi ( Arabic : وَادِي , romanized :  wādī , alternatively wād ; Arabic : وَاد , Maghrebi Arabic oued , Hebrew : וָאדִי , romanized :  vadi , lit.   'wadi') is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a river valley . In some instances, it may refer to

735-503: Is also named ( Arabic : سَدُّ الثَّوْرَةِ , romanized :  Sadd aṯ-Ṯawrah , Kurdish : Bendava Tewra ; Classical Syriac : ܣܟܪܐ ܕܬܘܪܗ , romanized:  Sekro d'Ṯawra , literally "Dam of the Revolution"), most commonly known as Euphrates Dam ( Arabic : سَدُّ الْفُرَاتِ , romanized :  Sadd al-Furāt ; Kurdish : Bendava Firatê ; Classical Syriac : ܣܟܪܐ ܕܦܪܬ , romanized:  Sekro d'Frot ),

784-589: Is an earthen dam on the Euphrates , located 40 kilometres (25 mi) upstream from the city of Raqqa in Raqqa Governorate , Syria . The city of Al-Thawrah is located immediately south of the dam. The dam is 60 metres (200 ft) high and 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) long and is the largest dam in Syria. Its construction led to the creation of Lake Assad , Syria's largest water reservoir. The dam

833-570: Is downstream) that was settled by intervention from Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union. The dam was originally built to generate hydroelectric power , as well as irrigate lands on both sides of the Euphrates. The dam has not reached its full potential in either of these objectives. In 1927, when Syria was a French mandate , it was proposed to build a dam in the Euphrates near the Syria–Turkey border . After Syria became independent in 1946,

882-687: Is the most important source of drinking water to Aleppo, providing the city through a pipeline with 0.08 cubic kilometres (0.019 cu mi) of drinking water per year. The lake also supports a fishing industry. Research indicates that the salinity of the Euphrates water in Iraq has increased considerably since the nearly simultaneous construction of the Keban Dam in Turkey and the Tabqa Dam in Syria. This increase can, among other things, be related to

931-584: The Arab League to intervene but Syria argued that it received less water from Turkey as well. As a result, tensions rose; both governments sent troops to the Syria-Iraq border , and the Iraqi government threatened to bomb the Tabqa Dam. Before the dispute could escalate any further, an agreement was reached in 1975 after mediation by Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union, whereby Syria immediately increased

980-714: The 1990s. Deposition in a wadi is rapid because of the sudden loss of stream velocity and seepage of water into the porous sediment. Wadi deposits are thus usually mixed gravels and sands. These sediments are often altered by eolian processes. Over time, wadi deposits may become "inverted wadis," where former underground water caused vegetation and sediment to fill in the eroded channel, turning previous washes into ridges running through desert regions. Tabqa Dam The Tabqa Dam ( Arabic : سَدُّ الطَّبْقَةِ , romanized :  Sadd aṭ-Ṭabqah , Kurdish : Bendava Tebqa ; Classical Syriac : ܣܟܪܐ ܕܛܒܩܗ , romanized:  Sekro d'Tabqa ), or al-Thawra Dam as it

1029-584: The Al-Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor Governorates , including the area immediately surrounding the dam, began in November 2016. Interruptions in power output from the dam due to combat are estimated to have affected up to 40,000 people. In January 2017 the Euphrates rose 10 meters due to heavy precipitation and flow mismanagement, disrupting transportation and flooding farmland downstream. A nearby raid against ISIL by combined SDF and US special forces also impacted

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1078-779: The Elder called it the Chaboras ( Ancient Greek : Χαβώρας ), Procopius called it the Chabura , Strabo , Zosimus , and Ammianus Marcellinus called it the Aborrhas (Ἀβόρρας), and Isidore of Charax called it the Aburas (Ἀβούρας). It was described as a large river of Mesopotamia which rose in Mons Masius , about 40 miles (64 km) from Nisibis , and flowed into the Euphrates at Circesium (Kerkesiah). Procopius speaks of it as

1127-525: The Euphrates Valley are less than 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) apart. The dam is an earth-fill dam that is 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) long, 60 metres (200 ft) high from the riverbed (307 metres (1,007 ft) above sea-level), 512 metres (1,680 ft) wide at its base and 19 metres (62 ft) at the top. The hydroelectric power station is located on the southern end of the dam and contains eight Kaplan turbines . The turbines' rotation speed

1176-544: The Euphrates. Construction of the dam lasted between 1968 and 1973, while the accompanying power station was finished on 8 March 1978. The dam was constructed during the agricultural reform policies of Hafez al-Assad , who had re-routed the Euphrates river for the dam in 1974. The total cost of the dam was US$ 340 million of which US$ 100 million was in the form of a loan by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union also provided technical expertise. During construction, up to 12,000 Syrians and 900 Russian technicians worked on

1225-505: The Khabur between Ra's al-'Ayn and Al-Hasakah. The capacity of the reservoir of Hasakah West is 0.09 km, and is also the southeastern end of the Assyrian enclave. The capacity of Hasakah East is 0.2 km. A third dam, Hassakeh South, was constructed on the Khabur 25 km south of Al-Hasakah. The reservoir of this dam has a capacity of 0.7 km. The Khabur Valley, which now has about four million acres (16,000 km) of farmland,

1274-703: The River Gozan, where they are to this day". The identification of the Khabur with the Habor is not contested. The ancient city of Corsote , visited by Cyrus the Younger on his ill-fated expedition against the Persians as told by Xenophon , was located at the confluence of the Khabur River, known by them as the 'Mascas', and the Euphrates according to Robin Waterfield . Other authors have been circumspect upon

1323-740: The Shatt el-Nil, a silted up canal toward the east of Babylon. The Khabur River Project, begun in the 1960s, involved the construction of a series of dams and canals . Three dams were built in the Khabur Basin as part of a large irrigation scheme that also includes the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates. The section of the Khabur River within Tell Tamer Subdistrict are home to a self-governing Assyrian enclave. Two dams, Hasakah West and Hasakah East, have been constructed on tributaries to

1372-556: The Syrian Euphrates valley has been intensively occupied at least since the Late Natufian period (10,800–9500 BC). Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European travellers had already noted the presence of numerous archaeological sites in the area that would be flooded by the new reservoir. In order to preserve or at least document as many of these remains as possible, an extensive archaeological rescue programme

1421-471: The Tabqa Dam. The Baath Dam , located 18 kilometres (11 mi) downstream from the Tabqa Dam, was completed in 1986 and functions as a floodwater control to manage the irregular output of the Tabqa Dam and as a hydroelectric power station. The Tishrin Dam , which functions primarily as a hydroelectric power station, has been constructed 80 kilometres (50 mi) south from the Syria–Turkey border and filling of

1470-420: The Turkish government had started filling the reservoir of the newly constructed Keban Dam , and at the same time the area was hit by significant drought. As a result, Iraq received significantly less water from the Euphrates than normal, and complained that annual Euphrates flow had dropped from 15.3 cubic kilometres (3.7 cu mi) in 1973 to 9.4 cubic kilometres (2.3 cu mi) in 1975. Iraq asked

1519-425: The action and prevalence of water. Wadis, as drainage courses, are formed by water, but are distinguished from river valleys or gullies in that surface water is intermittent or ephemeral. Wadis are generally dry year round, except after a rain. The desert environment is characterized by sudden but infrequent heavy rainfall, often resulting in flash floods . Crossing wadis at certain times of the year can be dangerous as

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1568-473: The area would disappear under the rising water of Lake Assad. To stimulate foreign participation, the Syrian antiquities law was modified so that foreign missions had the right to claim a part of the artefacts that were found during excavation. As a result, between 1971 and 1977, numerous excavations were carried out in the Lake Assad area by Syrian as well as foreign missions. Syrian archaeologists worked at

1617-561: The construction. In the early 1960s Swedish geomorphologist Åke Sundborg worked as an advisor on the dam project with the task of estimating the amount and fate of sediment entering the dam. Sundborg developed a mathematical model on the projected growth of a river delta in the dam. Originally, the Tabqa Dam was conceived as a dual-purpose dam. The dam would include a hydroelectric power station with eight turbines capable of producing 880 MW in total, and would irrigate an area of 640,000 hectares (2,500 sq mi) on both sides of

1666-403: The dam's entrance. In March 2017, ISIL warned of the dam's imminent collapse after the towers attached to the dam were bombed by an American B-52 bomber during a joint US/SDF operation to capture it on March 26, 2017. The dam had been on a U.S. no-strike list but was struck by three bombs anyway. The bombing caused critical equipment to fail and the dam to stop functioning. One of the bombs,

1715-483: The dam. They were housed in the greatly expanded town near the construction site, which was subsequently renamed Al-Thawrah . To facilitate the project, as well as the construction of irrigation works on the Khabur River , the national railway system ( Chemins de Fer Syriens ) was extended from Aleppo to the dam, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor , and eventually Qamishli . Around 4,000 Arab families who had been living in

1764-504: The distal portions of alluvial fans and extend to inland sabkhas or dry lakes . In basin and range topography , wadis trend along basin axes at the terminus of fans. Permanent channels do not exist, due to lack of continual water flow. They have braided stream patterns because of the deficiency of water and the abundance of sediments . Water percolates down into the stream bed, causing an abrupt loss of energy and resulting in vast deposition. Wadis may develop dams of sediment that change

1813-601: The feasibility of the project was studied and shelved. In 1957, the Syrian government reached an agreement with the Soviet Union to build a dam in the Euphrates. In 1960, as part of the United Arab Republic , Syria signed an agreement with West Germany for a financing loan. In 1965, after Syria left the UAR, a new agreement was reached with the Soviet Union . A special government department was created to oversee

1862-399: The flooded part of the Euphrates Valley were resettled in other parts of northern Syria, part of a partially implemented plan to establish an " Arab belt " along the borders with Turkey and Iraq in order to separate Kurds in Syria from Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan . In 1974, the authorities started to fill the lake behind the dam by reducing the flow of the Euphrates. Slightly earlier,

1911-484: The flow from the dam and agreed to let 60 percent of the Euphrates water that came over the Syria-Turkey border flow into Iraq. In 1987, Turkey, Syria and Iraq signed an agreement by which Turkey was committed to maintain an average Euphrates flow of 500 cubic metres (18,000 cu ft) per second into Syria, which translates into 16 cubic kilometres (3.8 cu mi) of water per year. The upper part of

1960-601: The government, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights . In 2013, four of the dam's eight turbines were operational and the original staff continued to manage it. Dam workers still received pay from the Syrian Government, and fighting in the area temporarily ceased if repairs were needed. The dam was then captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in 2014. SDF efforts to retake parts of

2009-447: The high average summer temperature in northern Syria. This is high compared to reservoirs upstream from Lake Assad. For example, the evaporation at Keban Dam Lake is 0.48 cubic kilometres (0.12 cu mi) per year at roughly the same surface area. Neither the Tabqa Dam nor Lake Assad is currently used to its full economic potential. Although the lake can potentially hold 11.7 cubic kilometres (2.8 cu mi), actual capacity

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2058-526: The lower discharge of the Euphrates as a result of the construction of the Keban Dam and the dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) in Turkey, and to a lesser degree of the Tabqa Dam in Syria. High-salinity water is less useful for domestic and irrigation purposes. The shore of the lake has developed into an important marshland area. On the southeastern shore, some areas have been reforested with evergreen trees including

2107-493: The minarets of Mureybet and Meskene were moved to higher locations, and Qal'at Ja'bar was further reinforced and restored. Many finds from the excavations are now on display in the National Museum of Aleppo , where a special permanent exhibition is devoted to the finds from the Lake Assad region. After the completion of the Tabqa Dam, Syria built two more dams in the Euphrates, both of which were functionally related to

2156-531: The precise location of Corsote due to the changing names and courses of the rivers since that time. The Khabur river was sometimes identified with the Chebar or Kebar, the location of Tel Abib and setting of several important scenes of the Book of Ezekiel . However, recent scholarship identifies the Chebar as the ka-ba-ru waterway mentioned among the 5th century BCE Murushu archives from Nippur , close to Nippur and

2205-543: The reservoir started in 1999. Its construction was partly motivated by the disappointing performance of the Tabqa Dam. The implementation of a fourth dam between Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor – the Halabiye Dam – was planned in 2009 and an appeal to archaeologists was released to excavate sites that will be flooded by the new reservoir. On 11 February 2013 the dam was captured by the Syrian opposition in their fight against

2254-616: The sites of Tell al-'Abd, 'Anab al-Safinah, Tell Sheikh Hassan , Qal'at Ja'bar, Dibsi Faraj and Tell Fray . There were missions from the United States on Tell Hadidi (Azu), Dibsi Faraj, Tell Fray and Shams ed-Din-Tannira; from France on Mureybet and Emar; from Italy on Tell Fray; from the Netherlands on Tell Ta'as, Jebel Aruda and Selenkahiye; from Switzerland on Tell al-Hajj; from Great Britain on Abu Hureyra and Tell es-Sweyhat ; and from Japan on Tell Roumeila. In addition,

2303-485: The stream patterns in the next flash flood . Wind also causes sediment deposition. When wadi sediments are underwater or moist, wind sediments are deposited over them. Thus, wadi sediments contain both wind and water sediments. Wadi sediments may contain a range of material, from gravel to mud, and the sedimentary structures vary widely. Thus, wadi sediments are the most diverse of all desert environments. Flash floods result from severe energy conditions and can result in

2352-408: Was constructed between 1968 and 1973 with help from the Soviet Union . At the same time, an international effort was made to excavate and document as many archaeological remains as possible in the area of the future lake before they would be flooded by the rising water. When the flow of the Euphrates was reduced in 1974 to fill the lake behind the dam, a dispute broke out between Syria and Iraq (which

2401-626: Was initiated during which more than 25 sites were excavated. Between 1963 and 1965, archaeological sites and remains were located with the help of aerial photographs , and a ground survey was carried out as well to determine the periods that were present at each site. Between 1965 and 1970, foreign archaeological missions carried out systematic excavations at the sites of Mureybet (United States), Tell Qannas ( Habuba Kabira ) (Belgium), Mumbaqa (Germany), Selenkahiye (Netherlands), and Emar (France). With help from UNESCO , two minarets at Mureybet and Meskene were photogrammetrically measured, and

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