Rebels seize Syria’s largest dam, taking control of water and electricity to parts of [View all]
Source: The Washington Post
BEIRUT —Syrian rebels captured the country’s largest dam on Monday after days of intense clashes,giving them control over water and electricity supplies for much of the country in a major blow to President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The rebels had already seized two other dams on the Euphrates River. But the latest conquest, the al-Furat dam in northeastern Raqqa province, was a major coup for the opposition. It handed them control over water and electricity supplies for both government-held areas and large swathes of land the opposition has captured over the past 22 months of fighting.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, a Britain-based anti-regime activist, said rebels took control of al-Furat dam around midday after successfully pushing out a group of Assad loyalist from the control room. Most of the regime troops in the area had stopped fighting on Sunday following the fall of the nearby town of al-Thawra, Abdul-Rahman said.
The rebel assault on the dam was led by al-Qaida-linked militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been fighting alongside the rebels trying to oust Assad. Al-Nusra Front is considered the most effective fighting force on the anti-regime side.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/rebels-seize-syrias-largest-dam-taking-control-of-water-and-electricity-to-parts-of-country/2013/02/11/d0a659e8-7461-11e2-9889-60bfcbb02149_story.html
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