Syrian Army Operation Continues on Wadi Barada

At least 14 civilians were killed in barrel bomb attacks in opposition-held areas in the Damascus suburbs on Monday, as pro-government forces continue their operation on the town of Wadi Barada, according to Al Jazeera.

The Syrian army launched an offensive on Wadi Barada on Friday, after the government accused opposition factions in the area of putting diesel in the springs, contaminating the water supply that flows to the capital Damascus, Reuters reported. The supply to Damascus has since been cut off, leaving some 5 million people without access to water, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The aerial attacks also hit a medical facility, a civil defense unit and the main pumping station at the Ein al-Fija spring. that provides water to some 65 percent of Damascus’ neighborhoods.

An estimated 100,000 people live in 10 villages in Wadi Barada near the Lebanese border and have been under siege since 2014.

Turkey Pledges Cease-Fire Mediator Role in Turkey

Turkey said it would work with the Syrian government and opposition forces to facilitate communications ahead of peace talks scheduled to take place in Kazakhstan, according to Bloomberg.

“We must find a way to stop this bloodiest war of the modern era,” Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for Turkey’s president, said at a news conference in Ankara on Monday. “Our aim here is to make sure the cease-fire is reached and systematically enforced in all of Syria. Our ultimate aim is to reach a political transition process.”

Turkey, Russia and Iran had previously agreed to act as guarantors of the peace talks, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said were aimed at fighting terrorism.

On Tuesday, Turkey and Russia’s foreign ministers agreed during a telephone call to push for a cease-fire in Syria and stressed the importance of a “rapid completion of agreements on practical parameters to end military actions [in Syria], the separation of the moderate opposition from terrorist groups, and preparations for the meeting in Astana,” according to a statement from Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

U.S.-Backed Forces Advance on ISIS-Held Dam

U.S.-backed forces advanced toward ISIS’ Syrian headquarters in Raqqa on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Just 10 days after the start of the second phase of its anti-ISIS operation, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, advanced within a few kilometers of an important dam on the Euphrates River that is some 50km (30 miles) west of Raqqa city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that ISIS commander Abu Jandal al-Kuwaiti had been killed in a coalition airstrike.

This phase of the operation aims at attacking ISIS positions west of the militant’s de facto capital, and U.S. special forces are working “side by side with our forces,” an SDF spokesperson told Reuters.

On Monday, Turkey called on U.S. coalition forces to provide air support to Turkish-backed forces currently fighting ISIS in the northern town of al-Bab, according to Reuters. The call came a day after an ISIS attack on the town killed at least 30 civilians, according to a statement from the Turkish military.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• NPR: In a Syrian Suburb Cleared of Rebels, a Gradual Return to Everyday Life
• Newsweek: Inside Syria’s Propaganda Wars
• The Associated Press: Assad Gains Aleppo, but Others Likely to Shape Syria’s Fate
• Los Angeles Times: ‘Sir, Do You Know Where I Can Find My Mother?’
• BBC News: From Besieged Madaya, Desperate Calls for Help