Sites endangered as bulldozers alter course of Tigris River in Syria

Archaeological sites are believed to be among affected areas due to Turkish heavy equipment bulldozing large areas of land by the Tigris River in North Syria’s territory near Ein Diwar village.

Bridge at Ein Diwar (by Syrian Arab News Agency)

Turkish heavy equipment and engineering vehicles are said to have entered the territory of Syria in November and started to carry out acts of vandalism and bulldozing in the riverbed of the Tigris few days ago. According to the local sources at al-Malikiye city the operation is a methodical operation that seeks to alter the course of the Tigris River in Ein Diwar village. The changes in the river’s flow might result in flooding more than a thousand hectares of farmlands and threaten a number of archaeological sites including the bridge in Ein Diwar. The masonry arch Roman bridge was built in the 2nd century by the Romans to give them access to Eastern Anatolia and was refurbished by the Seljuks and Arabs in the late 12th or early 13th century. Its carvings depict astrological figures, zodiac signs and cavalrymen, attributed to Roman architecture.

Bridge at Ein Diwar (by Syrian Arab News Agency)

(after Syrian Arab News Agency)

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