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Wednesday 11 January 2017

Hezbollah and Assad Regime escalate attacks on besieged Wadi Barada


Video: Regime raids on Basimah village.

By Wadi Barada Media Centre.

Report for Tuesday 10th January 2017.

Omar Qantaqji, a young man resident in Ain El-Fijeh was killed today and seven other people were injured a result of an intensification of bombardment by regime forces, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, and the Qalamoun Shield brigade on the villages of Wadi Barada.

From the early hours of the morning regime forces tried to advance from the entrance to the village of Basimah. Heavy artillery, tanks, IRAM surface-to-surface missiles, and heavy machine guns and sniper fire were all used. The rebels resisted their advance and there were violent clashes. The rebels managed to burn two tanks and damage a “Shilka” mobile anti-aircraft gun. After this the regime carried out more than 15 raids on the village with planes, helicopters and IRAM surface-to-surface missiles, as well as B10 heavy machine guns.

Regime forces also bombed Ain el-Fijeh village with heavy mortars, shells, and snipers also targeted the village. Like on every day, The Ain El-Fijeh Spring water plant was bombarded with shells and rockets, increasing the damage and destruction it has already suffered. Civilian houses were also damaged. Rebel snipers killed two regime troops who tried to advance on the Hawat Mountain overlooking Ain El-Fijeh.

There were also clashes between regime forces, Hezbollah, and Qalamoun Shield militia on one hand and rebels on the other around the villages of Kfeir Al-Zeit and Al-Husseiniya after an attempt by the invading forces to advance deep into these villages. However, the invaders were unsuccessful in making any significant advances after the rebels stopped them.

On a humanitarian level, the villages of the area have had no water, electricity, mobile or landline telephone service or Internet services for 20 days following the regime’s bombardment of infrastructure and vital facilities. Diseases are spreading after homes and mosques in relatively safe villages have become overcrowded with people and the medical authority in Wadi Barada says that the reason for this is that people have drunk unpotable water which has not been purified and have become in close proximity together as a result of the regime’s attack on the area.

Video: Regime forces and militias in the surrounding mountains of Wadi Barada.