Al-Thawra Dam   The Euphrates At-Thawra Rasafeh Raqqa Deir Ezzor Doura Europos Mari For a first initiation trip limited to the essential, you should make a slight detour to visit Qalaat Jaabar, an old fortress today located on an islet of the Assad Lake. You will leave the Aleppo-Deir-Ezzor road at 146 km. from the first city (173 km. from the second) and proceed for 26 km. to Eth-Thawra, a new city where there are some small hotels. The dam is 2km. away. It is a colossal work consisting of an earth fill strengthened by a concrete 60-meter high wall. It is 2500 m. long, 512 m. wide at the base and 19 m. at the top. The dam is extended on the left bank by a 1500 m. Between the two is the spillway. A concrete structure 250 meters wide, with two sluice gates. The artificial lake formed by this dam represents a volume of 12 million cubic meters covering 630 square kilometers. The hydro-electric station has an installed power of one million kilowatt with eleven turbines, but electric production, conditioned by the water level, is rather irregular. This production of energy is obviously not the only reason for this dam. It was built with Soviet aid in order to reclaim a total of 1,040,000 hectares of land in the middle Euphrates. Works are being carried out in three areas only, totaling about 530,000 hectares in the basin of the Balikh river (185,000 ha), a tributary of the left bank flowing near Raqqa, in the basin and finally in the Deir-Ezzor area (192,000ha). Beyond the dam, you will discover Qalaat Jaabar, today located on an islet linked to the northern bank by a dyke. Before the advent of Islam, it stood on a fortified rocky hill. The present castle was probably rebuilt by Noureddin shortly after 1168 and altered under the Mamelukes by governor Tankiz in 1335-1336. Made of bricks, it is now being restored.
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