Baath Dam

The Baath Dam (سد البعث, Bendava Baas, ) is a dam on the Euphrates, located 22 km upstream from the city of Raqqa in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. Construction of the dam started in 1983 and was finished in 1986. It is intended to generate hydroelectric power as well as regulate the irregular flow from the Tabqa Dam, which is located 18 km upstream from the Baath Dam. These irregularities in the flow from the Tabqa Dam are caused by changes in the electricity demand. The Baath Dam is 14 m high and the installed water turbines can generate 81 MW. The storage capacity of the Baath Dam Reservoir is 0.09 km3.

The Baath Dam is one of three dams on the Syrian Euphrates, the other two being the Tabqa Dam, and the Tishrin Dam 80 km south of the Syria-Turkish border. Like the Baath Dam, the Tishrin Dam is also functionally related to the Tabqa Dam. Construction of the Tishrin Dam was partly motivated by the disappointing performance of the hydroelectric power station in the Tabqa Dam. Before the Syrian Civil War, Syria had plans to construct a fourth dam – the Halabiye Dam – on the Euphrates, downstream from the Baath Dam. The dam is named after the Syrian Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.

Syrian Civil War
On 4 February 2013, opposition forces captured the dam, a week before capturing the Tabqa Dam. The Baath Dam was captured from the ISIL by the Syrian Democratic Forces on 4 June 2017. Upon doing so, they renamed it the "Freedom Dam" (Kurdish: Bendava Azadî; سد الحرية; ). ISIL used the complex as a prison. In 2019, control of the dam was given to the Syrian government after the Turkish invasion of Northern Syria.