Homs: Female Detainees of al-Waer Freed over Electricity Deal

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Zaman al-Wasl learnt that civil, revolutionary and military actors in Homs’ besieged northern countryside reached an agreement with the regime in recent days. 

The agreement dictates that the regime can repair and restore the international electrical power lines, known as 400 Kv line which connect southern Syria to northern Syria and passes through several villages in Homs’ north eastern countryside (al-Saan- Ezz al-Din). 

In return, the regime will release all female detainees from the areas of the besieged countryside and al-Waer neighborhood. 

Abu Ahmad Wali, who attended three of the negotiation meetings, said to Zaman al-Wasl that they agreed with the regime for it to release all the female detainees, give electricity to most of the villages in the besieged countryside for the following three years, allow UN aid to enter the besieged countryside without hindrance, and both sides will stop bombing civilians. 

News of the agreement come after the Russian and Turkish announcement of a complete ceasefire in Syria. 

Wali clarified that the committee demanded the regime release 32 female detainees from the al-Waer neighborhood and the villages, towns and cities of the northern countryside. 

The regime only admitted to the existence of 18 female detainees in its prisons and promised to release them soon, but the fate of the remaining female detainees remains unknown. Activists predict that they were kidnapped and directly killed by the pro-regime sectarian militias.

A Weapon in the Hands of the Resistance 

The regime had suggested the issue of rehabilitating the 400 Kv line in 2013 via employees from Homs’ northern countryside who still work in the regime Ministry of Electricity. Informed sources mentioned to Zaman al-Wasl, that the Free Syrian Army in Homs’ northern countryside cut the overhead power lines in the villages of al-Saeen and Ezz al-Din (7 kilometers east of Talbiseh) in 2012, with the aim of pressuring the regime to stop bombing the civilian population. Soon after gangs affiliated to the regime cut up the power lines and electrical network within the villages and towns and sold them by the kilogram to traders connected to the regime.

The local council for the city of Talbiseh denied the rumors going around the northern countryside regarding what is called a reconciliation or settlement. 

In a statement, the council said the regime is negotiating with the designated committee from the area to reinstall the overhead power lines, 400 Kv, that passes from the east of Talbiseh and al-Rastan in return for executing a number of clauses including giving the area electricity and releasing the female detainees. 

Zaman al-Wasl learnt from engineering sources that the regime has been forced to give in to the demands of local actors in the besieged countryside as it needs to reconnect the power transmission lines to each other to provide electricity to the city of Aleppo. 

The source added that the regime Ministry of Electricity effectively began last week to rehabilitate the transmission station, 400 Kv, located next to the electricity generating station in eastern Aleppo. The regime also began extending a 170 kilometer overhead power line from Hama to Aleppo. 

The line will cost 4 billion Syrian Pounds and it will be extended over two phases, the first within six months and the second within a year. 

The same sources indicated that the 400 Kv line passing through Homs’ northern countryside will provide Aleppo with 375 Mega Watts and it will be connected with the Turkish electrical network in the future. 

A specialized electrical engineering source confirmed that the cost of developing 1 kilometer of overhead power lines 400 Kv is estimated at around 100,000 Euros or around 10 million Syrian Pounds. 

A Rein for the Bombardment 

The Syrian resistance in Homs’ northern countryside, used the overhead power lines and drinking water network that passes through their area as a weapon against the regime. In early 2016, the resistance resorted to cutting off the drinking water network in the village of al-Daminah and the city of Salmiyah, and destroyed some electrical towers to forces the regime to stop its military campaign in Hama’s southern countryside which aimed at separating the towns and cities of Homs’ northern countryside from each other. 

The resistance exploded the central electrical tower located 500 meters west of the al-Zarah thermal station on 14 February 2016. One of the residents of the village of Deir al-Fardis said to Zaman al-Wasl that the rebels in Homs’ northern countryside used a regime explosive barrel cast on the area but which did not explode to blow up the central electrical tower. 

The resident added that the electrical tower fed the 230 Lines to transmit electricity and blowing up the tower led to complete electrical cuts in all of Hama city and large parts of Homs city. The operation also led to the collapse of over 15 electrical towers south of Hirbnafsah due to carrying excessive cable weight. 

In the end, the regime gave in to the rebels demands with the guarantee that it will repair the electrical lines in return for stopping the military campaign and the bombardment of civilians.