Wadi Barada residents say ‘what ceasefire?’

In Syria’s Wadi Barada, the six days since a nationwide ceasefire was declared have only brought more bombs.

Residents say the bombs have rained down daily, deepening the misery caused by a government-imposed siege that has emptied market shelves and left residents relying on wood fires to stay warm in the winter cold.

The fighting threatens the truce deal brokered by Russia and Turkey. meant to spur fresh peace talks as world powers scramble for a solution to a conflict that is more than five years old.

Iran on Thursday responded To Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who on Wednesday accused Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s government of violating a ceasefire Ankara brokered with regime backer Moscow last week.

Cavusoglu warned that the “violations” were jeopardising planned peace talks in Kazakhstan later this month.

Iran criticised the “unconstructive remarks” and said they could “further complicate the current situation” in Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government helicopters dropped rockets and at least 15 barrel bombs on the area while Lebanese Hezbollah militants clashed with rebels on the ground.

“There is no electricity here, no medicines and very little food,” said one resident, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety. “The barrel bombs are raining on us. The ceasefire has changed nothing.”

In private, Western officials say the deal meant little from the start in the government’s most coveted areas, with the Syrian army saying that the truce would not apply to groups tied to terrorist organisations, including Al Qaida-linked Jabhat Fatah Al Sham. The group is present in opposition areas across the country, albeit apparently in small numbers around Wadi Barada, which lies northwest of Damascus, the capital.

That caveat has appeared to give the Syrian army and its allies cover to pursue strategic objectives, including attempts to win back control of Wadi Barada’s Ain Al Fijeh spring, which supplies about 70 per cent of the fresh water running through to Damascus.

Although the government and rebels had previously kept to an understanding that water services would not be disrupted, that ended when Al Assad’s forces and Hezbollah laid siege to the valley last year.

That blockade is biting as temperatures drop below freezing.

Abu Mohamed Al Baradawi, an activist from the area, said food is running out. “There is almost no canned food left, because we rushed to buy it when the bombing started,” he said. “People are surviving on tiny stocks at home and keeping warm by bundling together or huddling around the fires we build.”

Wadi Barada, once a popular spot for Damascus families in search of good fish and relaxation, threw off government control in early 2012, less than a year after the uprising against Assad’s government began.

Former and current residents say Wadi Barada and the surrounding areas had become emblematic of the grievances that led people across the country to rise up in the first place, citing government neglect, corruption and land grabs.

Families say hundreds of acres of private property was confiscated for state use under new land measures. One area became a horse club. Another is a luxury hotel, still advertised on Facebook as “a perfect place to unwind.”

“People were very frustrated to see so much land go to the government,” said Mohamed Raba’a, a journalist from the area now living in Sweden. “These were luxury developments on other people’s land.”

Water was also increasingly diverted to Damascus as its population swelled. “It made people furious,” said the Wadi Barada resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “That’s why we were among the earliest to join the revolution.”

On Wednesday, that battle for resources had come full circle as pro-government forces fought to regain control of the valley’s most important spring.

“As boys, we would swim in those beautiful waters, and now they’re the prize in a war,” Raba’a said.

source: GULF NEWS