The UN's Syria envoy said Thursday (January 12th) meetings were taking place in Ankara and Moscow to avert a dangerous military escalation and help end the water crisis affecting millions in Damascus, AFP reported.

Fighting in the Wadi Barada region near Syria's capital has damaged water infrastructure and left some 5.5 million people in the capital and its suburbs facing shortages , according to the UN.

"Two meetings are taking place both in Ankara and now probably in Moscow too, which will be discussing this aspect because … water in Damascus is vital," Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Geneva.

The UN had been informed that the Syrian government had reached a deal with five villages in Wadi Barada to solve the problem, but two villages had refused the arrangement, including the one holding the main water source.

"Therefore, there is a danger, substantial danger, imminent danger that this may develop into a further military escalation," de Mistura said, warning that "the consequences, unavoidably (will be) no water solution for the people in Damascus".

On Wednesday, the provincial governor in Wadi Barada said Syria's government had reached a deal for the army to enter an opposition-held area near Damascus and restore the capital's water supply.

Opposition sources denied there was a deal.

Violent clashes were underway in Wadi Barada Thursday between regime troops and fighters from the Lebanese Hizbullah group and opposition forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The strikes came despite a nationwide truce brokered by regime supporter Russia and opposition backer Turkey that has been in place since December 30th.

The truce does not include al-Nusra Front (ANF), now known as Fatah al-Sham Front, or the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL).

De Mistura voiced disappointment Thursday that the ceasefire, while largely holding, had not made it any easier to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid.