The Syrian army escalated aerial bombing of a rebel-held valley northwest of Damascus in an offensive begun last week to recapture the strategic area where a major spring provides most of the capital’s water supplies, rebels and residents said on Tuesday.
The roads leading to the towns in the valley and the mountain cliffs surrounding the area are under the control of elite Republic Guards and the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah group, they said.
The rebels said the army was emboldened by gaining full control of Aleppo city and was seeking to force them to either leave or face all out war.
Through a series of so-called settlement agreements and army offensives, the Syrian government, backed by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has been steadily suppressing armed opposition around the capital. …