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Hundreds of Syrians flee as Assad's forces bomb groups excluded from ceasefire Hundreds of Syrians flee as Assad's forces bomb Barada valley rebels
(about 17 hours later)
Hundreds of civilians fled a mountainous region outside the Syrian capital on Sunday, where government forces were battling several insurgent groups, including one linked to al-Qaida that was excluded from the recent nationwide ceasefire. Army and militia units supporting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, advanced further on Monday on a rebel region that is key to the capital’s water supply, launching strikes and artillery fire threatening a fragile nationwide truce.
The Syrian military said 1,300 people had fled the Barada valley region, near Damascus, since Saturday. The region has been the target of days of airstrikes and shelling despite the truce, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey and appears to be holding in other parts of the country, despite some reports of fighting. Hundreds of civilians have fled the Barada valley region outside Damascus since Saturday, where government forces were battling several insurgent groups.
The truce went into effect early on Friday, and the government and the opposition are expected to meet for talks in Kazakhstan later this month. Russia, a key military ally of Syrian president Bashar Assad, and Turkey, a leading sponsor of the rebels, are acting as guarantors of the agreement, which excludes the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front and Islamic State. The region has been the target of days of airstrikes and shelling despite the recent nationwide ceasefire, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey and appears to be holding in other parts of the country, despite some reports of fighting.
On Saturday, The UN security council unanimously adopted a resolution supporting efforts by Russia and Turkey to end the nearly six-year conflict in Syria and jump-start peace negotiations. The truce went into effect early on Friday, and the government and the opposition are expected to meet for talks in Kazakhstan later this month. Russia, a key military ally of Assad, and Turkey, a leading sponsor of the rebels, are acting as guarantors of the agreement, which excludes the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front and Islamic State.
The military said those fleeing Barada valley were relocated to safer areas and their names were registered by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there were buses in the region ready to evacuate civilians but could not confirm how many people had left. The military said those fleeing Barada valley were relocated to safer areas and their names were registered by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there were buses in the region ready to evacuate civilians but could not confirm how many people had left. Reports suggested more than a thousand had left in the last three days.
He said the Barada valley region was not part of the ceasefire because of the presence of Fatah al-Sham Front, formerly known as the Nusra Front. He said the Barada valley region was not part of the ceasefire because of the presence of Fatah al-Sham Front, formerly known as the Nusra Front, and government forces and allied fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with rebels.
The Barada valley media centre said Lebanese Hezbollah militants were firing on villages and towns in the water-rich region as Russian and government aircraft carried out raids for the 10th consecutive day on Saturday. The Lebanese militant group has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to bolster Assad’s forces. “Regime forces and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group are advancing in the region and are now on the outskirts of Ain al-Fijeh, the primary water source in the area,” he said.
The Barada valley is the primary source of water for the capital and its surrounding region. The government assault has coincided with a severe water shortage in Damascus since 22 December. Images from the valley’s media centre indicate its Ain al-Fijeh spring and water processing facility have been destroyed in airstrikes. The government says rebels spoiled the water source with diesel fuel, forcing it to cut supplies to the capital. Civil society organisations on the ground in the Barada valley region however denied in a joint statement issued on Monday that Nusra fighters were present in the area.
The Observatory and the Aleppo media centre, an activist collective, meanwhile reported government airstrikes on rebel-held villages near the northern city of Aleppo, which was recently returned to full government control. Rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner in the Barada Valley region also warned in a statement that the truce was in danger of collapse.
State news agency Sana said two suicide attackers blew themselves up in the coastal city of Tartus, killing two security officers who had stopped them shortly after midnight, as residents were celebrating New Year’s Day. “We call on the sponsors of the ceasefire agreement to assume their responsibility and pressure the regime and its allied militias to stop their clear violation of the agreement,” the statement said.
A news website close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard meanwhile said General Gholam Ali Gholizadeh, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, was killed fighting in Syria. It did not provide further details. Iran is also closely allied with Assad. Otherwise, they warned, “we will call on all the free military factions operating inside Syria to overturn the agreement and ignite the fronts in defence of the people of Wadi Barada”.
The Barada valley is the primary source of water for the capital and its surrounding region. The government assault has coincided with a severe water shortage in Damascus since 22 December. The government says rebels spoiled the water source with diesel fuel, forcing it to cut supplies to the capital.