MESOP FOCUS SYRIA : THE “NONE-CEASEFIRE” – Ceasefire Near Collapse Amid Pro-Assad Offensive on Wadi Barada

By Scott Lucas – eaworldview – UPDATE 0945 GMT: A pro-opposition website reports an advance for the regime and Hezbollah forces attacking the Wadi Barada pocket, northwest of Damascus: ORIGINAL ENTRY: Syria’s national ceasefire is close to collapse, only six days after it began, amid an assault by pro-Assad forces on an area northwest of Damascus.Local sources said on Tuesday that the ceasefire is effectively “toast” because rebels have lost patience with the ongoing attacks, notably on the Wadi Barada pocket.

The Syrian military, militias, and Hezbollah have not halted ground and air assaults despite the truce, hoping to overrun the pocket of 10 villages and about 100,000 people. The area is significant because of the al-Fija springs, which provide 60% of Damascus’s water.

Near the start of the three-week offensive, regime airstrikes damaged the pumping facility for the springs. More than 4 million people in the capital have been affected and have no more than two hours of water per day.

Video from Russian State outlet RT:The rebel faction Jaish al-Islam said on Tuesday that it will move fighters from the east Qalamoun region, where they have been facing ISIS-affiliated units, near Wadi al-Barada. Although the group did not specify its operations, it could attack the regime and Hezbollah forces who have surrounded the pocket, as well as an Iranian headquarters in the area.

Regime forces have also continued their attempt to seize more territory in the East Ghouta area, northeast of Damascus, and shelling and airstrikes have been reported in Idlib, southern Aleppo, and northern Hama Province since the ceasefire, brokered by Russia and Turkey, began last Thursday. The local sources reported a rebel response on Tuesday with rebel shelling in northern Hama Province. In Damascus Province, they fired at a military base in protest over the regime attempt to overrun Wadi Barada, and they also shelled the regime enclave of al-Fu’ah in Idlib Province.One source summarized, “These actions are just a symbol, a last signal to considering the deal as null and void.”

Rebel factions said on Monday that, because of the pro-Assad attacks, they are freezing any discussion of involvement in political talks in Kazakhstan next month with the Assad regime. The negotiations are the next stage of the Russian-Turkish plan for a resolution which leaves both Moscow and Ankara with influence in Syria, whatever the outcome for President Assad and the opposition.

The Assad regime continues to justify its attack with the pretext that the strikes are on the jihadists of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), whom Damascus and Russia say is excluded from the ceasefire — even though there is no established JFS presence in Wadi Barada. On Tuesday, the pro-regime Al-Watan also proclaimed attacks by the Syrian Army and militias in northern Homs Province against “al-Nusra and its allies”. In the case of East Ghouta, pro-Assad outlets have not even bothered with the JFS/Nusra pretext: they have acknowledged that the attacks are on Jaish al-Islam, which is covered by the ceasefire. www.mesop.de