J Keasden

Last night, spirits were kept high with women's songs amid the sounds of more explosions at the dam.

Yes my account was suspended by Instagram for some reason. I am now on @jkeasden2 while waiting for the appeal to go through...

The Tishreen Dam is a hydroelectric dam usually serving hundreds of thousands of people in North and East Syria. However, Turk!sh strikes have put it out of service, cutting off water and electricity to the local population.

Day 1 at the Tishreen dam. It's now 25 days that civilian convoys have been taking it in turns to protest here.

Despite all this, our convoy still reached our destination with high energy and determination, and we were greeted with joy and excitement!

On the way, I saw many craters and burnt cars from strikes and shells dropped on previous convoys. Then, on the dam, I saw the remains of cars destroyed by Turkish strikes, including some bearing the sign of ambulances.

There were several explos1ons near the Tishreen dam as I arrived to the site with the latest convoy.

It's inspiring and humbling how communities here stand up for themselves, their homes and what they care about. The least we can do is meet them where they are to understand each other and listen to what they have to say.

With the active fighting pushed back, people chose the dam as a significant site to raise their voices in protest & denounce the attacks. But Turkey continues to drop bombs: over 20 civilians have been killed at Tishreen, and over 100 across the region since the offensive began.

As a crossing point of the Euphrates, the dam has also played an important strategic role over the years. It was key in the campaign to liberate Manbic from ISIS in 2015. Two months ago, the SDF prevented Turkish-backed militia from crossing the dam & approaching Kobane.

Experts have expressed concern of a risk of partial or total collapse, spelling environmental & humanitarian catastrophe. Whatever the future might hold the situation is already critical. Turkish aggression is attacking the fabric of communities.

Due to ongoing bombing and destabilisation in the region the dam is out of service- a huge threat to the welfare of 100s of communities, reported by UNICEF as well as sources on the ground.

Tishreen Dam is a hydroelectric facility on the Euphrates. It's 40mtrs high with 6 turbines capable of producing 650MW. It normally provides water and electricity for 100s of thousands of people.

I'm heading to the Tishreen Dam today to join the ongoing peaceful protests there. A few months ago I walked across the dam on my way to a women's centre, with nothing more to worry about than a stray dog. Now it's under almost daily bombs.