(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian regime forces on Thursday have continued their ground and aerial campaign on the villages of Wadi Barada valley northwest of the capital for the ninth day where about 100,000 civilians live in deteriorating living conditions.
Local activists said more than 60-barrel bombs had been dropped on the mountainous villages on the border with Lebanon, killing five people and threatening the main water supply of Damascus to be dried.
The regime army escalated aerial bombing on valley about 18 km (11 miles) northwest of the capital to recapture the strategic area where a major spring provides most of the capital's water supplies, rebels and residents said.
They said the army shelled and bombarded several towns in Wadi Barada valley in a major offensive launched since last Friday. The roads leading to the towns in the valley and the mountain cliffs surrounding the area are under the control of elite Republic Guards and the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group, they said.
Residents said fighting focused on Baseimeh village at the edge of the valley where the army and its allies are pushing to advance deeper in an enclave where 10 villages are inhabited by an estimated 100,000 people.
The rebels said the army was emboldened by gaining full control of Aleppo city and was seeking to force them to either leave or face all out war.
"They are seeking to push us into a surrender deal to and we will not hand over our land," said Abu al Baraa, a commander in Ahrar al Sham, a rebel group present in the area.
Through a series of so-called settlement agreements and army offensives, the Syrian government, backed by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has been steadily suppressing armed opposition around the capital.
Alongside the main spring in Wadi Barada, the area lies on the road from Damascus to the Lebanese border that is used as a supply line for the powerful Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which is heavily involved in fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's army.
A resident and rebels said the aerial bombing has put out of commission the main Ein al Fija spring's water pumping station where a underground pipeline normally provides around 65 percent of the water to the capital's neighborhoods.
The regime army has blamed rebels for polluting the springs with diesel fuel in a move the water authorities said had forced them to cut supplies coming into the capital and resort to reserves to temporarily cover the shortfall.
The rebels have allowed the government's water authority engineers to maintain and operate the station and supply the capital since they took control of the area in 2012. The rebels draw from both Islamist and Free Syrian Army factions.
Fighters from the area have cut water supplies several times in the past as a pressure card to prevent the army from overrunning the area.
But they deny poisoning the water as they say it would harm them before anyone else.
Opposition forces control ten villages including, “Baseimeh, Ein al-Fiji, Deir Mkaren, Kafr Azzeat, Deir Qanon, al-Husseineh, Kafr al-Awameed, Burhila, Souq Wadi Barada, and Ifreh,” while the regime forces control the remaining villages in the valley including al-Jadidet, al-Ashrafiat, and Hariret.
Abu Mohammad al-Bardawi, the spokesperson for “The Wadi Barada Media Association,” that the living conditions of the civilians besieged in the valley’s villages is very bad. Al-Bardawi added in a special statement to Eqtsad that most people are living in underground shelters. “There is no bread, electricity, and communications are completely cut. Sources of heat are also absent. Most of the food product shops were bombed and their merchandise burnt completely.”
The regime forces have also prevented medication from being brought into the area for almost a year.
Al-Bardawi said, “Medication for heart disease, blood pressure, and diabetes is almost absent.” He confirmed that during the partial siege on the valley, “Bringing in medication was prohibited.”
Mou’ath al-Shami, living in the area, said the regime is trying to pressure the resistance and residents to force them to accept a truce.
Al-Shami added texting via WhatsApp that the regime’s strategic objective from the campaign on the Valley’s villages is securing the Ein al-Fiji water spring that supplies Damascus with water. When asked if the regime intends to repeat the scenario of al-Moadamiya and other areas of displacing fighters, al-Shami responded with “certainly, they want to implement a forced displacement operation and empty the area of its rebels.”
Since the start of the campaign until the nine day, activists documented over 60 explosive barrels falling on the village of Ein al-Fija. Al-Shami said the warplanes executed ten air strikes on the village. Fourteen explosive barrels were dropped on the village of Baseimeh in addition to four air strikes. Hundreds of tank and artillery mortar rockets were launched on these two villages and other villages such as Deir Mkaren, Kafr Azzeat, and al-Husseineh.
The United Nations said on Thursday that four million people in Damascus have been without safe drinking water supplies for more than a week
Water supplies from the Wadi Barada and Ain al-Fija springs which serve 70 percent of Damascus and its surroundings had been cut, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
OCHA said in a statement that supplies had been cut because "infrastructure was deliberately targeted and damaged", without saying who was responsible.
Local activists said more than 60-barrel bombs had been dropped on the mountainous villages on the border with Lebanon, killing five people and threatening the main water supply of Damascus to be dried.
The regime army escalated aerial bombing on valley about 18 km (11 miles) northwest of the capital to recapture the strategic area where a major spring provides most of the capital's water supplies, rebels and residents said.
They said the army shelled and bombarded several towns in Wadi Barada valley in a major offensive launched since last Friday. The roads leading to the towns in the valley and the mountain cliffs surrounding the area are under the control of elite Republic Guards and the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group, they said.
Residents said fighting focused on Baseimeh village at the edge of the valley where the army and its allies are pushing to advance deeper in an enclave where 10 villages are inhabited by an estimated 100,000 people.
The rebels said the army was emboldened by gaining full control of Aleppo city and was seeking to force them to either leave or face all out war.
"They are seeking to push us into a surrender deal to and we will not hand over our land," said Abu al Baraa, a commander in Ahrar al Sham, a rebel group present in the area.
Through a series of so-called settlement agreements and army offensives, the Syrian government, backed by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has been steadily suppressing armed opposition around the capital.
Alongside the main spring in Wadi Barada, the area lies on the road from Damascus to the Lebanese border that is used as a supply line for the powerful Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which is heavily involved in fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's army.
A resident and rebels said the aerial bombing has put out of commission the main Ein al Fija spring's water pumping station where a underground pipeline normally provides around 65 percent of the water to the capital's neighborhoods.
The regime army has blamed rebels for polluting the springs with diesel fuel in a move the water authorities said had forced them to cut supplies coming into the capital and resort to reserves to temporarily cover the shortfall.
The rebels have allowed the government's water authority engineers to maintain and operate the station and supply the capital since they took control of the area in 2012. The rebels draw from both Islamist and Free Syrian Army factions.
Fighters from the area have cut water supplies several times in the past as a pressure card to prevent the army from overrunning the area.
But they deny poisoning the water as they say it would harm them before anyone else.
Opposition forces control ten villages including, “Baseimeh, Ein al-Fiji, Deir Mkaren, Kafr Azzeat, Deir Qanon, al-Husseineh, Kafr al-Awameed, Burhila, Souq Wadi Barada, and Ifreh,” while the regime forces control the remaining villages in the valley including al-Jadidet, al-Ashrafiat, and Hariret.
Abu Mohammad al-Bardawi, the spokesperson for “The Wadi Barada Media Association,” that the living conditions of the civilians besieged in the valley’s villages is very bad. Al-Bardawi added in a special statement to Eqtsad that most people are living in underground shelters. “There is no bread, electricity, and communications are completely cut. Sources of heat are also absent. Most of the food product shops were bombed and their merchandise burnt completely.”
The regime forces have also prevented medication from being brought into the area for almost a year.
Al-Bardawi said, “Medication for heart disease, blood pressure, and diabetes is almost absent.” He confirmed that during the partial siege on the valley, “Bringing in medication was prohibited.”
Mou’ath al-Shami, living in the area, said the regime is trying to pressure the resistance and residents to force them to accept a truce.
Al-Shami added texting via WhatsApp that the regime’s strategic objective from the campaign on the Valley’s villages is securing the Ein al-Fiji water spring that supplies Damascus with water. When asked if the regime intends to repeat the scenario of al-Moadamiya and other areas of displacing fighters, al-Shami responded with “certainly, they want to implement a forced displacement operation and empty the area of its rebels.”
Since the start of the campaign until the nine day, activists documented over 60 explosive barrels falling on the village of Ein al-Fija. Al-Shami said the warplanes executed ten air strikes on the village. Fourteen explosive barrels were dropped on the village of Baseimeh in addition to four air strikes. Hundreds of tank and artillery mortar rockets were launched on these two villages and other villages such as Deir Mkaren, Kafr Azzeat, and al-Husseineh.
The United Nations said on Thursday that four million people in Damascus have been without safe drinking water supplies for more than a week
Water supplies from the Wadi Barada and Ain al-Fija springs which serve 70 percent of Damascus and its surroundings had been cut, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
OCHA said in a statement that supplies had been cut because "infrastructure was deliberately targeted and damaged", without saying who was responsible.
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