Syrian Army, rebels implement new agreement on Wadi Barada

The final settlement, reached earlier between the Syrian government and opposition fighters who control Wadi Barada, west of the capital, was implemented on Saturday as the ambulances were allowed inside Wadi Barada, to reach Ain al-Fijah to transfer the wounded there. On other hand, the rebels in Ain al-Fijah started to withdraw from the area to other places in Wadi Barada. Whoever is willing to stay will have their legal status settled.Those who reject the agreement will be transferred by buses to areas outside Wadi Barada.
This move came after the withdrawal of rebels from Ain al-Fijah to other areas in Wadi Barada, allowing dozens of government elements to enter the area. The Syrian flag internationally recognized was raised Ain al-Fijah well, as a goodwill gesture to launch the application the first step of the agreement.
The agreement, which outlined in Deir Qanoun town and was attended by representatives from the locals and fighters alike stipulated that the militants shall be evacuated to the northwestern province of Idlib with their families within 24 hours.
The talks occurred following a major advance made by the government troops who made it to the Ain al-Fijah main square and Abu Bakr al-Saddiq mosque amid fierce battles with Jabhet al-Nusra.
Some 5.5 million people in Damascus were in short supply of water for one month as militants cut off main water supplies feeding the capital.
The regime’s campaign centers on regaining control over the Ein al-Fijeh water pumping station, which supplied Damascus with 70 percent of its water before its destruction last month. Pro-Assad forces have captured three rebel villages since the start of the month-long campaign, and now control six out of Wadi Barada’s 13 villages.
Despite controlling the high ground surrounding Wadi Barada, pro-regime forces have been unable to make significant inroads into the village of Ein al-Fijeh. Despite clear disadvantages in firepower, hundreds of rebel fighters have managed to limit the regime’s advances by capitalizing on Wadi Barada’s mountainous topography and confronting the regime at up to four critical chokepoints around the town.
The regime’s response mirrors similar siege tactics used in Aleppo: bleed opposition forces of both men and ammunition while pounding civilian infrastructure and maintaining an airtight encirclement to ensure that neither food nor medicine enters the area.
Inside the village of Ein al-Fijeh, the one under-staffed and under-equipped medical center performs triage, while facing near constant bombardment.
“We have to resort to amputations so frequently because given our medical training, that’s often all that we can do to keep someone from dying,” Rihan, the medical center’s director, told Syria Direct. “We’re not trained for this…and we’ve lost friends because there’s nothing we can do other than stanch the bleeding and give them more blood.”
The four-bed mobile medical center has moved three times since the start of the regime’s campaign, relocating each time after a wave of bombardment either threatens or damages the center.
Since fighting first began on December 22, at least “200 people have been killed,” with 60 percent of them women and children, a group of Wadi Barada civil society organizations announced in a “distress call” posted on Facebook on Tuesday. The post further claims that 400 people have been injured, 45,000 people have lost their homes, the Civil Defense is no longer operating and more than 20 people have died from an inability to get medicine needed to treat chronic conditions as a result of the blockade.
The regime’s ground and air offensive—which relies heavily on airstrikes, barrel bombs, tank shells, mortar fire and snipers—is “unprecedented” for Wadi Barada, which has seen an uneasy peace since rebels seized control in 2012, Omar a-Shamali, a spokesman with the Wadi Barada Media Center, told Syria Direct on Wednedsay.
As a result of the regime’s encirclement of Wadi Barada, food, medicine and other basic supplies have not entered the seven rebel-held towns in over a month. Since the destruction of the water pumping station in December, residents inside the pocket remain largely without access to clean drinking water, electricity and communication with the outside world.
Despite previous negotiations, all talks of a ceasefire with the regime are currently suspended, sources inside Wadi Barada told Syria Direct.
A ceasefire collapsed last Thursday after airstrikes pounded Wadi Barada within hours after regime and opposition representatives signing on to the deal, Syria Direct reported. Prior to the ceasefire’s collapse, the agreement provided measures to repair the Ein al-Fijeh water-pumping station, damaged in the battle, and outlined steps for the amnesty or evacuation of Wadi Barada’s opposition fighters.
A prior deal fell apart earlier this month—also hours after it was reached—when the lead mediator, Ahmed al-Ghadban, was assassinated, Syria Direct reported.
Wednesday’s clashes come more than two weeks after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was quoted as saying that the region of Wadi Barada is exempt from a nation-wide ceasefire signed in Ankara on December 30.
It is to be noted that Jabhat Fateh al-Sham stepped up their checkpoints in west of Aleppo, and demanded the existing rebels to evacuate their headquarters. Meanwhile, the rebels in Ref Aleppo formed "emergency civil force" including residents of Atareb town, under the supervision of the Revolutionary Council in the town to implement the council and the Sharia Court's resolutions. The Syrian Observatory announced that Maarrat al-Nu'man is witnessing tensions and some residents cut the road linking the region to the southern parts Idlib. A child was killed and three other wounded after they were shot during a gathering in a village in the western countryside of Aleppo, which witnessed raids by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.