Syrian Troops Enter Key District in Wadi Barada
DAMASCUS (Tasnim) – Syrian troops on Wednesday entered a strategic district in Wadi Barada valley near the capital Damascus after fierce clashes with Takfiri militants who had been in control of the area since the start of foreign-backed conflict in the Arab country.
According to Tasnim dispatches, the Syrian government forces managed to enter the district of Bassima after storming the gathering centers of the Takfiri Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorist group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, in the Wadi Barada region.
The report added that the Syrian forces and their allies are now in control of several districts in the valley, including Bassima, and al-Maytem.
The Syrian army also managed to wrest control of Ain al-Fija village in Wadi Barada.
According to a recent UN report, four million people in Damascus have been deprived of safe drinking water supplies for over a week after springs outside the city were deliberately targeted by Takfiri terrorists.
Each neighborhood in Damascus reportedly gets water for about two hours a day and bottled water prices have increased dramatically in the free market.
The terrorists in Wadi Barada have cut water supplies several times in the past to prevent the Syrian army from recapturing the area.
Last week, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Local Administration ordered authorities in the provinces of Rif Dimashq and Damascus to start using water reserves until the problem was resolved.
Syria has been the scene of a foreign-backed crisis since early 2011.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.