BEIRUT/DAMASCUS/ANKARA: Syrian government forces have recaptured all towns and villages in the Wadi Barada valley near Damascus, the Syrian military said on Sunday, in another blow to the opposition who have fought for years to unseat President Bashar Assad.
“Units of our armed forces, together with ... allied forces have achieved their mission in returning security and stability” to the area, the military said in a statement read out by a spokesman on Syrian state television.
The Syrian Army recaptured a flashpoint area from fighters near Damascus that supplies water to the capital, it said.
Wadi Barada had been the scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks between regime and opposition forces that tested a fragile nationwide truce and left millions in Damascus facing water shortages.
“Our armed forces ... have accomplished their mission by restoring security and stability in the region of Wadi Barada,” the army said in a statement carried by state television.
The military’s offensive, launched last month, aimed partly to seize control of a major spring and water pumping station which supplies most of the capital’s water. Fighting and damage to the site caused acute water shortages in Damascus this month.
State TV broadcast footage of regime soldiers standing in the water pumping station in the village of Ain Al-Fijeh.
The announcement came a day after the army entered the water pumping station in Wadi Barada for the first time in four years.
The recapture of Wadi Barada signals the fall of another opposition-held area in western Syria, and comes weeks after insurgents were driven from areas they controlled in Aleppo, their last major urban stronghold.
Military support from Assad’s foreign allies, including Russia, Iran and Lebanese group Hezbollah, have been instrumental in helping turn the nearly six-year civil war in his favor.
On Saturday the army took over the spring in Al-Fijeh as part of an agreement reached with rebels, who had held the area since 2012, pro-Damascus media outlets and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Under the agreement, dozens of rebel fighters were expected to be bussed out of the area on Sunday with their families and head for Idlib province, an insurgent stronghold.
Similar previous deals in western Syria have seen rebels evacuate areas they had held for years and depart with their families for Idlib. The opposition says this amounts to forced population transfers.
The deals have usually been struck in places where government forces and their allies have either besieged rebel-held areas or have gained the upper hand militarily.
Under a deal with the authorities, rebels can choose to stay in the area but hand over their weapons, or leave for Idlib, last major bastion of the armed opposition.
Around 5.5 million people in Damascus and its suburbs have been without water since fighting intensified in the Wadi Barada area in late December.
Turkish soldier killed
A Turkish soldier was killed in clashes with Daesh militants near Al-Bab in northern Syria on Sunday, the Turkish military said, as fighting between Turkey-backed opposition and hard-liners grinds on.
Syrian opposition fighters, backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes, have been besieging the Daesh-held town since December. Turkey has repeatedly said it is close to taking Al-Bab, although troops have been bogged down in street battles with Daesh, slowing progress.
The militants have also used car bombs and other tactics to inflict damage on the rebels. One Turkish soldier was killed on Sunday morning in the latest clashes with militants in Al-Ghuz, west of Al-Bab, the military said in a statement.
Turkey launched its Syrian incursion, dubbed “Operation Euphrates Shield” in late August, sweeping Daesh from its Syrian border.
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Syrian military retakes key opposition-held area near Damascus
Syrian military retakes key opposition-held area near Damascus
Tourism on hold as Middle East war casts uncertainty
- Cancelled flights, postponed trips and a great deal of uncertainty: the war in the Middle East is casting a long shadow over the tourism outlook for the region
PARIS: Cancelled flights, postponed trips and a great deal of uncertainty: the war in the Middle East is casting a long shadow over the tourism outlook for a region that has become a prized destination for travelers worldwide.
“My last group of tourists left three days ago, and all the other groups planned for March have been canceled,” said Nazih Rawashdeh, a tour guide near Irbid, in northern Jordan.
“This is the start of the high season here. It’s catastrophic,” he told AFP.
“And yet there’s no problem in Jordan. It’s perfectly safe.”
Across the world, tour operators are scrambling to find solutions for clients stranded in the region or who had trips planned there.
“The priority is getting those already there back home,” said Alain Capestan, president of the French tour operator Comptoir des Voyages.
He said however that the war was also affecting customers who have traveled to other parts of the world, as the Gulf region is home to several major aviation hubs — Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
Like other companies, the German tour operators surveyed by AFP — Alltours, Dertour, Schauinsland-Reisen — announced they would cover the cost of extra nights for clients stranded in the Middle East. They also canceled trips to the UAE and Oman until at least March 7.
Swiss operator MSC Cruises, which has a ship stranded in Dubai, told AFP on Thursday it was sending five charter flights to airlift nearly 1,000 passengers.
The firm said it expected the passengers to be out of the region by Saturday, without specifying the destinations of the flights or the nationalities of the holidaymakers.
The British travel industry association ABTA said agencies “would not be sending customers to the region for as long as the British Foreign Office advises against all non-essential travel.”
Customers whose holidays were canceled in recent days will be able to rebook or receive a refund, it said.
- Economic impact -
The war is disrupting a sector that had been booming in the region.
According to UN Tourism, in 2025 around 100 million tourists visited the Middle East — nearly seven percent of all international tourists recorded worldwide. That figure had grown three percent year-on-year and 39 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Depending on the destination, Europeans make up a large share of visitors, followed by tourists from South Asia, the Americas, and other Middle Eastern countries.
For example, nearby markets accounted for 26 percent of total visitors to Dubai in 2025, according to its Ministry of Tourism and Economy.
Against this backdrop analysts Oxford Economics warns that “a decline in tourist flows to the region will deal a more severe economic blow than in the past, as tourism’s share of GDP has grown, as has employment in the sector.”
“We estimate inbound arrivals to the Middle East could decline 11-27 percent year-on-year in 2026 due to the conflict, compared to our December forecast that projected 13 percent growth,” said Director of Global Forecasting Helen McDermott.
That would translate, according to the firm, to between 23 and 38 million fewer international visitors compared to the prior scenario, and a loss of $34 to $56 billion in tourist spending.
After Covid and then the conflict in Gaza, tourists had been coming back, said Rawashdeh, the Jordanian tour guide.
“For the past six months, people working in tourism here had hope. And now there’s a war. This is going to be terrible for the economy,” he said.
“We’ve definitely noticed an understandable slowdown in new bookings from our partners right now, but we fully expect that to bounce back as soon as things settle down and travelers feel more confident,” said Ibrahim Mohamed, marketing director of Middle East Travel Alliance, which offers direct tours to American and British operators.
He remains optimistic: “The Middle East has always been an incredibly resilient market, and demand always bounces back fast once stability returns.”
“My last group of tourists left three days ago, and all the other groups planned for March have been canceled,” said Nazih Rawashdeh, a tour guide near Irbid, in northern Jordan.
“This is the start of the high season here. It’s catastrophic,” he told AFP.
“And yet there’s no problem in Jordan. It’s perfectly safe.”
Across the world, tour operators are scrambling to find solutions for clients stranded in the region or who had trips planned there.
“The priority is getting those already there back home,” said Alain Capestan, president of the French tour operator Comptoir des Voyages.
He said however that the war was also affecting customers who have traveled to other parts of the world, as the Gulf region is home to several major aviation hubs — Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
Like other companies, the German tour operators surveyed by AFP — Alltours, Dertour, Schauinsland-Reisen — announced they would cover the cost of extra nights for clients stranded in the Middle East. They also canceled trips to the UAE and Oman until at least March 7.
Swiss operator MSC Cruises, which has a ship stranded in Dubai, told AFP on Thursday it was sending five charter flights to airlift nearly 1,000 passengers.
The firm said it expected the passengers to be out of the region by Saturday, without specifying the destinations of the flights or the nationalities of the holidaymakers.
The British travel industry association ABTA said agencies “would not be sending customers to the region for as long as the British Foreign Office advises against all non-essential travel.”
Customers whose holidays were canceled in recent days will be able to rebook or receive a refund, it said.
- Economic impact -
The war is disrupting a sector that had been booming in the region.
According to UN Tourism, in 2025 around 100 million tourists visited the Middle East — nearly seven percent of all international tourists recorded worldwide. That figure had grown three percent year-on-year and 39 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Depending on the destination, Europeans make up a large share of visitors, followed by tourists from South Asia, the Americas, and other Middle Eastern countries.
For example, nearby markets accounted for 26 percent of total visitors to Dubai in 2025, according to its Ministry of Tourism and Economy.
Against this backdrop analysts Oxford Economics warns that “a decline in tourist flows to the region will deal a more severe economic blow than in the past, as tourism’s share of GDP has grown, as has employment in the sector.”
“We estimate inbound arrivals to the Middle East could decline 11-27 percent year-on-year in 2026 due to the conflict, compared to our December forecast that projected 13 percent growth,” said Director of Global Forecasting Helen McDermott.
That would translate, according to the firm, to between 23 and 38 million fewer international visitors compared to the prior scenario, and a loss of $34 to $56 billion in tourist spending.
After Covid and then the conflict in Gaza, tourists had been coming back, said Rawashdeh, the Jordanian tour guide.
“For the past six months, people working in tourism here had hope. And now there’s a war. This is going to be terrible for the economy,” he said.
“We’ve definitely noticed an understandable slowdown in new bookings from our partners right now, but we fully expect that to bounce back as soon as things settle down and travelers feel more confident,” said Ibrahim Mohamed, marketing director of Middle East Travel Alliance, which offers direct tours to American and British operators.
He remains optimistic: “The Middle East has always been an incredibly resilient market, and demand always bounces back fast once stability returns.”
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