The Syrian regime has increased the pace of its military operations in the area of Wadi Barada which is situated in the north-western countryside of the capital Damascus. It has launched violent attacks, in coordination with Hezbollah fighters and militants loyal to it, on locations occupied by opposition factions in Ain Al-Fijah and the town of Ifrah in an attempt to crack down on the region and regain control of towns in Wadi Barada. Meanwhile, the opposition continue to advance, albeit slowly, in eastern Ghouta and they managed to kill a number of Syrian soldiers after tunnels used by Assad’s forces near the city of Harasta were bombed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the clashes that took place yesterday were concentrated in the vicinity of Ain Al-Fijah and on the Kafeer Al-Zayt and Wadi Allouz fronts. It added that the clashes occurred at the same time as “strikes carried out by warplanes and helicopters on the village of Ain Al-Fijah and the area surrounding it”. The observatory also said that the regime’s forces “targeted the area where the clashes were taking place with ground- to-ground missiles that it launched from its positions overlooking Wadi Barada”.

An activist in Damascus named Diaa Husseini said that “attacks carried out by the regime and its allies focused, in the last few hours, on the towns of Ain Al-Fijah, Deir Muqrin, Ifrah and Kafeer Al-Zayt”. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the regime is giving the factions two options; either they lay down their arms and become displaced or they will continue to be bombed and the dire humanitarian situation will deteriorate.