The proposed location for the dam is the narrow gap in the Euphrates valley northwest of Deir ez-Zor that is created by basalt outcrops on the left and right river banks.

It is expected that dry areas will be brought under cultivation with irrigation water provided by the dam.

[1] In preparation of this project, the director of the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) appealed in 2009 to international teams of archaeologists to participate in the rescue excavations of the archaeological sites that would be threatened by the construction of the dam and the flooding of its reservoir.

[4] The lower town of Halabiye will be partially flooded by the reservoir and the Syrian government is cooperating with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNESCO to limit the impact of the dam on this site as well as on Zalabiye.

[1] Other threatened sites include Bronze Age Tell Ma’dan and Tell Humeyda with Ubaid, Uruk and Byzantine material.