The assault on Wadi Barada valley northwest of Damascus by regime forces and the Hezbollah militias has continued for the 15th consecutive day in a blatant violation of the truce agreement. The rebel-held area has been bombed with all types of weapons, including internationally banned ones.
Activists in Wadi Barada valley said that regime forces on Thursday morning fired four rockets containing poisonous chlorine gas on the outskirts of the village of Bseima in the valley. No casualties were reported.
Two airstrikes by the Assad regime air force hit the valley on Thursday. One airstrike was directly targeted at the Ayn Alfija water pumping station. The airstrikes caused damage to a Roman temple and destroyed the entrance of a historical citadel at Ayn Alfija water facility.
Local activists confirmed that over 60 airstrikes hit the villages of Wadi Barada valley on Wednesday, including over 30 airstrikes that pounded the village of Bseiam. The bombing left several people wounded and caused massive damage to residential buildings and shops amid attempts by regime forces and the Hezbollah militias to advance on the valley.
Civic institutions and civil society organizations in the besieged Wadi Barada valley have called on sponsors of the ceasefire agreement to put pressure on the Assad regime and its allied foreign militias to stop violating the agreement.
In a statement released on Monday, the civic institutions called upon the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to enter the valley to see the worsening humanitarian situation. They pledged to help bring in maintenance to repair the water facility once the bombardment has stopped.
Wadi Barada valley contains 13 villages, 9 of which are under the control of the FSA and rebel groups. The valley is surrounded by a range of hills on top of which regime forces and the Hezbollah militias are stationed. The area, home to about 100,000 people, has been under suffocating siege for over three years. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office)
