Syrian government forces launched a major-scale military operation against Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham terrorist groups in the area of Wadi Barda, northwest of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
While Syrian army and Hezbollah troops, supported by warplanes and artillery units, are advancing near Wadi Barda, the Syrian government has one more time suggested Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham militants to accept a withdrawal agreement and to move to Idlib.
Negotiations on the topic are reportedly ongoing in the villages of Kafr az-Zayt, Dayr Miqrin and Baseema.
Click to see the full-size map
SAA should clear all pockets in Damascus CS once and for all.
SF: The town labeled Wadi Barada should be Souk (or Souq) Wadi Barada, literally Barada Valley Market (Souq = Market, Wadi = Valley).
Wadi Barada is the name of the entire river valley itself – roughly the lower portion of the green, rebel-held area.including all the towns listed.
Dear friend, yes we know the whole name of the town. Our design team reduced the town’s lable during the production of this map.Thank you that you notified us that it was not a very good decision.
Thanks for all the work SF is doing to produce the great maps lately – they help tremendously when trying to understand the complex situations on the ground. It takes a lot of effort to put those together when the situation changes so fast. Your design team deserves praise for the overall quality of the maps.
Thank you for the warm words. We are always glad to receive a feedback because it helps us to improve the quality of our work.
Your work is wonderful–the first site I turn to for updates on the war fronts. Thank you–I am sending money to you for 2017. Happy New Year!
Agree 100 %, SF does great work with these maps.
wasn’t this a pocket with a ceasefire agreement?
Now that Aleppo is liberated it’s time for a surrender agreement.
It was for the last few years. Head-choppers even let government employees run the water distribution at al Fijah springs.
Syrian government reconciliation committees started negotiating with all the little pockets northwest of Damascus a couple of weeks ago. Same deal as Aleppo for the militants: Leave or die. Lay down your arms and take a green bus to Idlib. Non-militant residents have to evacuate during military ops but can return after the towns are cleared.
The few Syrian civilians remaining in Ayn al Fijah and some of the other Wadi Barada villages actually wanted reconciliation and also wanted the head-choppers to leave. They held some kind of protest and were promptly machine-gunned by the head-choppers. The Al Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham leaders there pretty much said ‘no reconciliation ever’ last week and they would die defending ‘their’ land in the Wadi. Nothing left to negotiate, so Syria began the current rodent removal operations. Civilians are attempting to flee to government-controlled areas outside the pocket, but are targeted by the head-choppers (just like everywhere else).
Thx for the information. Not all opposition fighters are headchoppers, there still are moderates… but getting harder to find. Havnt seen any news about this pocket indicating that.
There never were any moderates.
Bullshit. If I was a Syrian in 2012, I would have joined the FSA. They were normal ‘little people’ Syrians with perfectly legitimate complaints about the criminally corrupt, inept Syrian government – it had nothing to do with nutjob religious extremists. The CIA orchestrated and usurped much of the revolution for it’s own ends, but that doesn’t mean there were not Syrians that were genuinely pissed at the government with perfectly good cause.
The second the well-financed head-chopper jihadi Wahhabists, Salafists and foreigners showed up to infest the revolution, I would have just given up and left Syria forever. There’s a lot of Syrians that don’t have that option. When the head-choppers are gone, Syria will be impoverished and ruined, and the Syrian government will still suck as much as it always did. I feel sorry for anyone left there (except the head-choppers).
In “Wikileaks Files” (2015) , by Julian Assange , he clearly shows the US began its war against Syria in 2006 , because of the enormous pool of oil under the Golan Heights (Israeli occupied). See “Apple of Discord : Golan Heights Oil to add fuel to the fire of Syrian War , 28/10/2015 “. This pool of oil is estimated to be 300 meters thick , aprox the size of Saudi Arabia’s . Look up Genie Energy Ltd.(New Jersy) , board of advisors it owns AFEC oil and Gas , which has the Israeli “lease”. Legally it remains Syrian , regardless of being occupied . Hence the war to break Syria into smaller states , because once divided , Syria would loose its legal claim to that oil.
The pipeline proposal happened in 2009 , and is used most often as the cause of the war . While we are on topic of oil , in 1947 the French Geological researchers claimed that Syria’s “Off-Shore” oil and gas reserves were the largest known ! Syria has no external debt (IMF) , and its developed oil fields along the river have been pumping for at least 50 years . Syria being one of , if not the richest country in the world . While there is corruption in any nation , I doubt it was of a magnitude warranting armed rebellion. And as you said when the “well financed jihadists took over”, it would have been time to leave . While Dr. Assad may not be perfect , I’m sure he has learned much in this situation , and hope he can bring peace back to his country .
By the way that ref “Apple of Discord” is from Sputniknews .
Nobody is arguing that there were many other reasons for psychopathic, criminal foreigners to encourage and then hijack a Syrian revolution. I’m arguing Boris’ point that there were never any Syrian civilians that could have possibly had their own reform motives that justified revolution. They had mostly disappeared (or been kicked out by jihadis) by 2014, but to say they never existed is preposterous.
It was clear from the beginning that the muslim brotherhood was behind the islamist rebellion with the aim of a sharia ruled country. This was planned and mounted by the americans and brits years in advance.
If Syrians come up with a time machine, I’m sure they’ll take that into account next time.
Moderates don’t take up arms against the government and kill civilians, the legitimate Syrian opposition is legal and represented in the parliament. I cannot explain the Syrian government being “corrupt and inept” and still enjoy the overwhelming support of the population.
“…Moderates don’t take up arms against the government and kill civilians…”
We’re arguing about the qualifier ‘moderate’ that the U.S. invented for propaganda purposes. My point was that – for a brief time at the beginning – there WERE non-headchopper, non-jihadi, non-Salafist native civilian Syrian rebels that were not being paid by anyone or under the influence of foreign governments. If you’re contending that ALL Syrian rebels had evil intent from the very start and no Syrian could have ever had such serious grievances that justified revolution, then we disagree.
“…Syrian opposition is legal and represented in the parliament…”
Do you mean you can use the usurped tools the government provides to fix it? Sorry – I’m an American and don’t buy that childish nonsense anymore. “Know your master”. I *wish* the political process would have worked faster in Syria. It actually might have if the U.S. didn’t manufacture the rebellion for it’s own evil purposes, but now we’ll never know.
“…I cannot explain the Syrian government being “corrupt and inept” and still enjoy the overwhelming support of the population…”
Nobody took a ‘satisfaction’ poll of Syrians in 2012 that showed such overwhelming support for the government. Whether the Syrian government was broke enough back then to justify a legitimate rebellion is not something I can judge – it was (or should have been) up to the Syrians.
The fact that TODAY a decimated Syrian population in a ruined country would prefer the current Syrian government to the apocalyptic jihadi hell-hole alternative is no surprise. When your revolution gets hijacked by western intelligence agencies, mercs, religious zealots and head-choppers, then you’re better off ending that revolution and helping the government kill the crazies.
Keep looking and you will find there are no moderates.
Yes not all insurgents are fanatic headchoppers but none are “moderates” How can any Syrian who has supported six years of war against his own country to destroy the state , dis-member the nation, impose Sharia law on millions of non-Sunni Muslims, Christians, Druze, and others be called a moderate , why just because he doesn’t cut off heads ? Has six years of brutal war killing innocent civilians been really worth it, just because of local corruption / political oppression by Ba’ath officials ? Syria was not perfect before the war but no Syrian patriot surely can wish his country be destroyed by traitors and foreigners. Every single day Bibi Netanyau wakes up with a smile on his face as more Syrian Arabs are killed and for what ? To weaken the Arab Nation and set back economic, social, industrial progress back decades. Thanks for nothing “moderate” traitors
if this is true, then there should be no reconciliation effort. mass the forces and kill the fundamentalist scum. hang the rest right right there or even better, court martial them and give the locals a chance to stone them to death to revenge their dead relatives. this might sound primitive, but it’s effective in binding the hearts and minds of the locals clearly against al quida groups and making this area safe of future fundamentalism.
poising/cutting the water supply have made the terrorist groups in wadi barda area a primary target for the SAA nothing left to negotiate or bargaining
Let us see whether or not Lavrov makes another ceasefire agreement to save these terrorists !Syria mus mount a non stop offensive against these terrorists now ! NON-STOP !
It is time for the western democracies to show some force and do as the Russian and Syrian mass murderers do: shell Assad genocidal army and perhaps nuke Putin so the west can rid of the new Hitler
This democrat is a joke, the terrorists are not the murderers according to his twisted logic, and Putin is the new Hitler, maybe it is easy and without side-effects to nuke Putin. Crazy scumbag
I’v got a headache from the all the Xmas festivities but now you’ve increased it ten fold ?
Don’t blow so many d*cks next time…. oh wait, that’s your job, you need to earn your 2euros…
Maybe one day you’ll be able to afford a personalised avatar, if you save them euros. And what’s with the disturbed fascination with male appendages? Your maturity is really shining through. Keep it up.
Pathetic… and boring. Why don’t you just kill yourself or something, you are a waste of oxygen, seriously.
Since your mind is so closed, why is your mouth so open?
I remember listening to Fayrouz singing “Ya Barada “in Damascus long ago. After the war I hope we can clean out , re-engineer and re-juvenate the Barada River to flow again through Damascus. Same for the Qweiq River in Halab during the re-construction
Keep the head choppers away from your drinking water.