BEIRUT // Syria’s government made gains against rebels in a region that is key to the capital’s water supply on Monday, in a battle that threatens a fragile nationwide truce.
The ceasefire entered its fourth day on Monday, despite sporadic violence and continued fighting in the Wadi Barada area near Damascus.
“Regime forces and fighters from Lebanon’s Hizbollah group are advancing in the region and are now on the outskirts of Ain Al Fijeh, the primary water source in the area,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition monitoring group.
It added that government troops and allied fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with rebels, including from the former Al Qaeda affiliate now known as Jabhat Fatah Al Sham.
Rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner in Wadi Barada warned that the truce was in danger of collapse.
A rebel statement said Wadi Barada was included in the ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey and accused the regime of violating the agreement.
“We call on the sponsors of the ceasefire agreement to assume their responsibility and pressure the regime and its allied militias to stop their clear violation of the agreement,” it said.
Otherwise, the statement warned, “we will call on all the free military factions operating inside Syria to overturn the agreement”.
* Agence France-Presse
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