Al-Balaa Dam Water Pumping Restored After 12-Year Hiatus Amid Syrian Conflict

IDLIB, SYRIA - MAY 20: Children swim in an irrigation canal into which water was recently pumped, following the start of filling the Bala’a Dam, which had been stopped for twelve years on May 20, 2024, in Idlib, Syria. The Ministry of Agriculture worked in the Salvation Government, which administers the Idlib region in northwestern Syria, which is considered The civil front of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham began maintaining the water pumps and began drawing water from the Ain al-Zarqa spring in the western Idlib countryside and filling the dam during the first quarter of the year 2024. The capacity of the dam's reservoir is estimated at 14,500,000 cubic metres, and as the dam dried up during the conflict in Syria, it affected the agricultural sector. Severe damage has affected farmers and the local economy. Recently, agriculture has begun to recover, especially crops that need large amounts of water in the Al-Roj Plain area near Al-Balaa Dam in the western countryside of Idlib. (Photo by Ghaith Alsayed/Getty Images)