Syrian City of Madaya Shelled, Barrel Bombed by Pro-Assad Forces

“The pro-Assad side has not respected the truce agreement we reached."

ByABC News
December 7, 2016, 5:10 PM

— -- Barrel bombs, artillery shells and mortars have been raining down on the besieged towns of Madaya and Zabadani over the past three days, turning an already dire situation terrifying, according to locals. Pro-Assad and opposition forces had previously agreed to a truce.

"The shelling goes on for hours on end, one day it was in the middle of the night, another it was all day, but stopped in the evening," Madaya Mom told ABC News in Arabic. "It was all around the house, we have shrapnel strewn across the roof. It was petrifying since we don’t have shelters."

The mother of five, referred to as "Madaya Mom" to protect her from retaliation for speaking to the media, has been in contact with ABC News for almost a year. She is also the subject of an original comic book about life in the besieged country.

At least five people have been killed so far, as a result of the renewed attack by the Syrian military and its ally in the area, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to a local medic in the town, Mohamed.

Among the killed is an unidentified little girl and two civil defense volunteers, according to Mohamed. He recounts frightful rescue conditions.

"They shelled and bombed all around the field clinic," he told ABC News. "It got so bad, they temporarily knocked it out of service and we had to set up a makeshift clinic nearby to treat the wounded."

"Thank God a lot of the injuries haven’t been too severe," he continued. "We are able to patch them up with the limited means we have."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights believes the field clinic was specifically targeted -- a now-favored military tactic by the Syrian government and its allies, according to Doctors without Borders.

More than 300 mortars and artillery shells have fallen on Madaya and Zabadani in the past three days, according to the local opposition council.

This escalation in violence, the worst the besieged towns have experienced in six months, is thought to be retaliation for opposition armed forces shelling the pro-Assad towns of Fuaa and Kefraya in the North.

In a statement strikingly similar to the situation reports from Madaya and Zabadani, Syrian Member of Parliament Hussein Ragheb told Iran’s Fars News that "600 rockets landed in Fuaa and Kefraya over the past three days, killing 24, wounding dozens and knocking the only field clinic out of service."

Other pro-Assad estimates, from state-friendly news outlets, put the death toll at six with 15 wounded.

Opposition armed factions tell a slightly different version of events, as the Syrian conflict, now in its sixth year, often comes down to competing narratives.

"The pro-Assad side has not respected the truce agreement we reached and has been targeting the rebel positions surrounding Fuaa and Kefraya, which led to retaliatory shelling by the rebels on Fuaa and Kefraya" Abu Abd Rahman, the commander of the Ahrar Sham fighters in Madaya, told ABC News.

Fighters belonging to the same faction are part of the group besieging Fuaa and Kefraya. They are also currently on the back foot in neighboring Aleppo.

A truce was agreed a year ago between the opposition armed factions and Iran, acting on behalf of the Syrian government, to freeze the conflict around all four towns while the sieges continued.

The truce theoretically provided for humanitarian aid access. But the Syrian government, which grants permissions to international aid organizations to make such deliveries, has been accused of obstruction and of seizing vital food and medical products. The Syrian government, however, accuses rebel factions of looting aid deliveries meant for Fuaa and Kefraya.

Since January 2016, only six aid deliveries have been allowed into Madaya, according to the U.N. and other non-governmental organizations. The last one took place at the beginning of December.

"All we can do is continue to pray, pray for an end to the siege," Madaya Mom said. "When the bombs start falling, we just recite verses from the Quran, it’s the only refuge we have left."

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