The Afrin River (Arabic: نهر عفرين Nahr ʻIfrīn; Kurdish: Çemê Efrînê; northern Syrian vernacular: Nahər ʻAfrīn; Turkish: Afrin Çayı) is a tributary of the Orontes River in Turkey and Syria. It rises in the Kartal Mountains in Gaziantep Province of Turkey, flows south through the city of Afrin in Syria, then reenters Turkey. It joins the Karasu at the site of the former Lake Amik, and its waters flow to the Orontes by a canal.[1]
The total length of the river is 131km (81miles), of which 54km (34miles) is in Syria.The source of around a quarter of the river water is in Syria. More precisely, about 250e6m3 of the annual flow of the river comes from the Hatay Province of Turkey, while about 60e6m3 originates in Syria.The river is impounded by the Afrin Dam to the north of the city of Afrin.
The Afrin was known as Apre to the Assyrians,[2] Oinoparas in the Seleucid era, and as Ufrenus in the Roman era. Abu'l-Fida mentions it as Nahr Ifrîn.[3]