Since the fall of the Assad regime, the city has officially reverted to its original name, al-Tabqah. The name literally means "the layer" or "the stratum" in Arabic, and likely refers to the geographic or topographic features of the area — such as stepped terrain or layered rock formations along the Euphrates, where the city and dam are located.
Following the Ba'athistMarch 8th Revolution in 1963, the city was renamed al-Thawrah (Arabic: ٱلثَّوْرَة, romanized: ad-Ṭhawrah), meaning The Revolution, in honor of the regime’s ideological vision and its flagship project, the Tabqa Dam.[4]
History
Syrian civil war
Smoke rises in al-Tabqah after the city was hit by a Syrian Air Force airstrike in June 2013
In January 2014, The Islamic State took control of the city.[8] During ISIL rule, the town's Catholic, Antiochian Orthodox Church and Assyrian Church of the East churches were turned into a parking garage, a weapons factory and a barn, with ISIL militants destroying all Christian symbols on the three churches. The Shia Al Zahraa' Mosque was destroyed and an Ismaili place of worship was turned into a children's training centre.[9] In addition, high ranking IS members would reside in the city, to escape the bombardments on its capital Raqqa.
On 22 March 2017, the Syrian Democratic Forces began the Battle of Tabqa to retake the city, as the international coalition assisted by conducting airstrikes. SOHR reported that the airstrikes killed or injured more than 40 people,[10] while the BBC reported 27 killed and 40 wounded.[11] On May 10, 2017, the SDF successfully recaptured the city,[12][13] during which an estimated 40% of the buildings were either damaged or destroyed.[14]
Demographics
Prior to the Civil War, the majority of the city's inhabitants were SunniArabs, with Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian as well as Ismaili and Shiite Arab minorities.[15] The Assyrian minority consisted of around 1,000 people, with about half belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East, originating from the Khabour River villages, and the other half being Syriac Orthodox Christians, along with a few Chaldean Catholic, Syriac Catholic and Protestant families.[16] But now the Christians have left and very few returned after liberation.[17]
^"Will Raqqa's church bells ring again?". Syria Direct. 6 June 2023. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Among the reasons why many Christians have not returned to Raqqa and other cities in the province, such as Tabqa, is that "SDF-affiliated factions have prevented them from returning to their homes, with the Northern Democratic Brigade currently controlling the homes of Christians in Tabqa," Murad said.
