Syria workers enter rebel area to restore Damascus water

Syrian government workers entered a formerly rebel-held area near Damascus on Friday to begin restoring water to the capital after weeks of shortages, a local governor said.

Speaking to reporters near the Ain al-Fijeh spring in the Wadi Barada region, Alaa Ibrahim said a deal had been reached for the army to take control of the area and crews would restore water as soon as possible.

Mains water from Ain al-Fijeh has been cut since December 22, after fighting damaged key pumping infrastructure northwest of the capital, leaving 5.5 million people facing shortages.

"We have halted military operations in Ain al-Fijeh and started reconciliation with the militias there," Ibrahim told reporters.

"God willing, the pipe will be fixed within three days... rapid measures will be taken to get water to Damascus tomorrow."

Ibrahim said that rebels who refused the deal or belonged to former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham would be offered passage to opposition-held Idlib province.

"All of Wadi Barada will be secured within hours," he added. "Water will not be cut off to the city of Damascus again."

Ahmad Ramadan, a member of the opposition National Coalition, confirmed there was a deal in Wadi Barada but said it was only to allow repair crews in and had no "military or political consequences."

- Syrian flag raised -

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, confirmed that repair crews had reached Ain al-Fijeh and begun work, adding that the Syrian flag had been raised in the area.

The government has struck a series of deals in formerly opposition-held areas, often requiring rebels to hand over their weapons and replace the opposition flag with the Syrian one in return for a halt to fighting.

The opposition criticises this as a "starve or surrender" tactic, saying they are forced into deals by government sieges and heavy bombardment.

Government forces have battled rebels in Wadi Barada for weeks, and President Bashar al-Assad personally pledged that the area would be recaptured.

The government accuses rebels, including Fateh al-Sham, of deliberating cutting water to the capital.

But the opposition says pumping equipment was damaged in government strikes and denies Fateh al-Sham is present in the area.

The fighting has threatened a fragile nationwide truce brokered by government ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey in place since December 30.

- New peace talks -

The truce is intended to pave the way for fresh peace talks this month in the Kazakh capital Astana aimed at finding a solution to Syria's conflict after nearly six years of war.

The talks are being organised by Moscow and Ankara, along with regime ally Iran, but the United States has been notably absent from the process despite being a key player in previous peace efforts.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, insisted on Thursday that US officials would be invited to the talks, set for January 23.

"The United States should be definitely invited, and that is what we agreed with Russia," he said.

"Nobody can ignore the role of the United States. And this is a principled position of Turkey." 

But Moscow, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad's government, declined to comment on Cavusoglu's statements.

"I cannot say anything about this for now," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He added however that Russia is "interested in the broadest possible representation of the parties who have a bearing on the prospects of a political settlement in Syria."

The talks will begin just three days after US president-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last month he hoped to work with the incoming administration on Syria.

More than 310,000 people have been killed since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011, and over half of Syria's population has been displaced by the violence.

Source: AFP