Work Underway to Reach Reconciliation in Wadi Barada without External Parties Help

DAMASCUS COUNTRYSIDE – Governor of Damascus Countryside Alaa Ibrahim said work is underway to reach a local reconciliation agreement in Wadi Barada area in the western countryside of Damascus, according to SANA.

Water supply in Wadi Barad has been cut off by armed terrorist gangs since December 24th, causing the locals of Damascus city to suffer heavily after the city being deprived of 80 % water resources.

“Deliberations are ongoing in Wadi Barada area to reach a local reconciliation, and these deliberations are Syrian-Syrian where neither the UN nor any other external party are playing a role in them,” Ibrahim said in a statement to SANA.

 Over the past days, the authorities settled the legal status of some 1000 people from the villages of Wadi Barada, including 60 armed men.

Early this month, hundreds of civilians left the villages and headed towards al-Rawda area in Damascus Countryside fleeing the criminal acts of the terrorist organizations in their region.

The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry sent two letters to UN Secretary General and President of Security Council on January 5th in which it condemned the terrorists’ cutting off water supply in Damascus, describing this act as a war crime and a crime against humanity.

In its letters, the Ministry said Jabhat al-Nusra and its affiliated criminal gangs cut off water supply in Wadi Barada and al-Fijah spring in Damascus countryside on December 24th, 2016 through detonating the main water supply pump which supplies Damascus, adding that the terrorist groups also polluted the water with diesel, depriving Damascus city from nearly 80% of water resources and causing severe suffering for millions of residents in Damascus.