(Zaman Al Wasl)- “A town of angels invaded by ghosts,” is how an activist from the Ain al-Fijah town, 25 km (17 miles) northwest of Damascus, described the situation of the town more than a year after the displacement of its people and the expropriation of their land and property through many unfair and punitive laws and decisions.
The most recent of these decisions was issued by the Syrian parliament regarding defining the boundaries of the al-Fijah Spring, confiscating the property of those displaced, and destroying their houses located within the newly defined boundaries of the Spring. The decision comes as revenge against the people of al-Fijah and Wadi Barada for aligning with the Syrian revolution.
Activist Abu Omar al-Aarab told Zaman al-Wasl that the regime forces directed their hatred at the inhabitants of the villages of Basima and Ain al-Fijah over the past years because they stood up to the fierce attack and prevented the regime, its supporters and thugs from occupying their villages.
They resisted the siege for six years. Al-Araab added that the regime and its allies launched a war on a small geographical area. Russia with its modern weapons, Iran with its criminal expertise, the Hezbollah militia and the Fourth Division thugs who killed and destroyed the people were all active in this region.
The struggle ended with the inhabitants’ displacement, and the radical change in the demographics of the area whereby outsiders have occupied much of the property in this area.
In the past years, the regime has put in place many plans and procedures to seize the lands of Ain al-Fijah. According to al-Aarab, the aim was not to protect the water sources as the regime expropriated the land in return for small sums of money and issued the special Decree No. 10 particular to direct and indirect water springs. Based on this decree, no building, restoration and any other businesses, even pastoralism, are banned in the area around the spring.
In return, the regime permitted building societies to launch projects in the area. According to al-Aarab, there was a plan to displace the people to the Adra area and to expropriate Ain al-Fijah which was considered God’s paradise on the earth, and the destination for many people over the years due to its beauty and the generosity of its people.
According to al-Aarab, the town previously experienced an expropriation experiment which resulted in half the houses in the area being demolished. The Law No. 10 of 1989 defined the scope of the Ain al-Fijah water spring enabling the regime to expropriate land and houses. The regime did so using more force than allowed by law. Al-Aarab indicated that at the time, the regime promised residents that they would be given houses and compensation but these promises came to nothing. Some difficult cases remained under the pretext that the conditions were not executed.
Due to the previous resolutions and the current decision, the regime has invoked its need to protect the water sources. However, al-Aarab said that this is a hollow argument used to disguise the regime’s colonial aim to invade the area after the displacement of its people.
“The regime has repeatedly rejected many projects presented to it to divert the water from the coastal region, which is abundant and flows into the sea. That water could simply be diverted to Damascus. Before the revolution, regime officials repeated that the ‘the coastal water is for the coast’ to indicate the rejection for the idea of dragging the water to Damascus.
At the same time, the regime drained every water source in the valley and the areas around it to led to the desertification of the region and deprive it of its vital resources,” said al-Aarab.
He recalled that trees, tens and hundreds of years old, were witnessed dying of thirst when previously there was abundant water in the area. He recounted how boats used to moor in the Spring area which is considered the beginning of the Barada River. He recalled how he used to play in the lake with his childhood friends, and how the spring area suddenly became an arid and desolate place.
Over the course of a year and even as the opposition forces were leaving, the regime forces began the systematic destruction of the area by seizing and destroying houses and buildings, and cutting down trees in the area surrounding the village of Ein al-Fijah.
The activist pointed out that the spring of al-Fijah has always been the focus of invaders and colonizers who know the importance of the spring because it is the ‘gift of Damascus,’ so it was necessary to design a plan aimed at changing the region naturally and geographically.
Al-Aarab pointed to the suspicious visit by the former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to the al-Fijah Spring. No other foreign president had made such a visit while visiting Syria on state business. At the time, residents feared that the former Iranian president was coming to ‘check out the goods’, especially as he came with 200 Syrian security forces, walked around the spring and then left.
According to al-Aarab, the plan aims to erase the features of the place and appropriate it entirely. This became more apparent during the People’s Assembly decision which prohibits construction in order to keep the area in its current situation as it is and what follows from that decision of prohibiting the return of the displaced population or any demands for the minimum of rights.
Zaman Al Wasl
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