Syrian government forces continue to launch air raids and artillery fire on parts of the capital's outskirts in an attempt to drive out remaining armed opposition groups, according to state media and war monitors.

Rebel-held pockets near Damascus have been witnessing intense shelling from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces since Thursday.

Some of the areas, including Hajar al-Aswad and Tadamun in the southern district of Damascus, have been under Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group's control since April 2015.

The areas comprise the majority of the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp, which lies about 8km from central Damascus.

ISIL fighters were given 48 hours to surrender and withdraw from the Yarmouk area on Thursday, pro-government Al-Watan daily reported.

Meanwhile, remaining rebel factions in nearby eastern Qalamoun have begun evacuating to rebel-held parts of the country, after agreeing on Friday to surrender under threat of military action by government forces.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that buses began evacuating "terrorists and their families" out of Qamaloun to Idlib province and Jarablus city at noon on Thursday.

Activist Hazem al-Shamy told Al Jazeera that fighters from rebel groups Jaish al-Islam and Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham remain in control of other pockets such as the towns of Yalda, Beilla, and al-Qadam - all of which lie south of the capital.

Al-Shamy and other activists say some 200 air attacks were launched since Thursday.

"All of those areas including Yarmouk are being shelled by Russian fighter jets," al-Shamy said.

According to Action Group for Palestinians in Syria, a London-based watchdog that documents human rights violations, at least four Palestinian refugees, including a member of Syria's Civil Defense, were killed in Saturday's attacks.

In total, at least six Palestinians lost their lives in the government-led raids that began two days ago, the group said.

Although most of the camp's residents fled to other parts of Syria or to neighbouring countries, the United Nations estimates thousands remain trapped inside as a result of an imposed siege that began in 2012, shortly after the Syrian war started.

ISIL currently controls about five percent of Syria, including pockets in Deir Az Zor, and have a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert.

Since 2015, the Syrian government has regained control of the majority of Syria, with opposition groups now restricted to the northern part of the country.

They have thus far managed to regain large swaths of land through a series of evacuation deals that come amid a military offensive, most recently in Eastern Ghouta, a major Damascus suburb that was once home to 400,000 people.</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Insurgents in the last area outside the Syrian government’s control near Damascus agreed to surrender on Friday, state media said, after a pounding bombardment overnight and through the morning.

A source familiar with negotiations between the insurgent groups there and the government told Reuters that some fighters from the enclave around Yarmouk refugee camp would be taken to eastern Syria, where Islamic State controls some territory and others to rebel areas in the northwest.

The reported move comes as President Bashar al-Assad accelerates his push to retake remaining enclaves and strengthen his position around the capital following the defeat of rebels in eastern Ghouta this month.

Earlier on state television, large puffs of smoke could be seen along a row of buildings as an artillery salvo struck home before one collapsed in a cloud of dust, accompanied by the rattle of automatic fire and the sound of distant blasts.

U.S., British and French air strikes on Saturday to punish Assad for suspected use of chemical weapons have done nothing to slow the advance of his forces, now in their strongest position since the early months of the seven-year-old war.

Air strikes and shelling hit the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp and al-Hajar al-Aswad area, part of a small enclave divided between warring jihadists and other rebels south of the capital.

The live state television footage of the area showed a plume of dark smoke billowing across one district as guns boom in the distance. A Reuters witness in central Damascus saw air strikes also hitting the area.

Assad is accelerating his campaign to retake the remaining enclaves his forces encircle around Syria, which would leave rebels with only their two major strongholds in the northwest and southwest.

Western countries launched their first coordinated action against Assad on Saturday to punish him for a suspected gas attack they say killed scores of people during an advance that captured the town of Ghouta near the capital.

But the single volley of air strikes, hitting three targets far from any frontline, had no effect on the wider war which has killed 500,000 people and made more than half of Syrians homeless.

International inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) who arrived in Damascus nearly a week ago were still waiting early on Friday to visit the site of the suspected poison gas attack.

Syria and its ally Russia deny using chemical weapons in the assault on Douma. The Western countries say the Syrian government, which now controls the town, is keeping the inspectors out and may be tampering with evidence, both accusations Damascus and Moscow deny.

Physicians for Human Rights, a U.S.-based rights group, voiced “grave concern” over reports that Douma hospital staff had faced “extreme intimidation” after the area came back under government control to stop them talking about the incident.

Rebels on Thursday began pulling out of Dumayr, an enclave northeast of Damascus, under a surrender deal with the government. Insurgents in another enclave nearby - Eastern Qalamoun - said they had also agreed to withdraw.

Thousands of civilians, including the fighters’ families, are expected to leave with them for northern Syria before the areas come back under Assad’s rule under deals similar to others carried out across the country as government forces advance.

The United Nations has voiced concern that such “evacuations” involve the displacement of civilians under threat of reprisals or forced conscription. The government denies that.

“The U.N. expects further displacements in the near future to northern Syria from other locations controlled by non-state armed groups where negotiations reportedly are happening,” the world body said in a humanitarian note.

Conditions in the opposition-held pocket of northern Syria where the displaced will go are poor.

After the army’s recovery of eastern Ghouta this month in a ferocious battle that began in February, the surrender of Dumayr and Qalamoun would leave only the pocket in south Damascus outside government control in the area around the capital.

Jihadist shelling of an adjoining neighbourhood injured five people, Damascus police were cited as saying early on Friday by state television.

Yarmouk was the biggest camp for Palestinian refugees in Syria before the war. Although most residents have fled, up to 12,000 remain there and in the neighbouring areas under jihadist or rebel control, said the U.N. agency that helps them.</s>BEIRUT – Insurgents in the last area outside Syrian government control near Damascus agreed on Friday to withdraw, but the army’s bombardment continued pending a full surrender deal, state media and a war monitor reported.

The development heralds another advance for President Bashar al-Assad’s push to retake remaining enclaves and strengthen his position around the capital after retaking eastern Ghouta this month.

Large puffs of smoke could be seen on state television rising from a row of buildings as an artillery salvo struck home before one collapsed in a cloud of dust, accompanied by the rattle of automatic fire and the sound of distant blasts.

Assad is in his strongest position since early in the seven-year war despite US, British and French air strikes on 14 April - their first coordinated action in the war.

The attacks were to punish Assad for a suspected gas attack they say killed scores of people during an advance that captured Douma - the rebels’ last redoubt in eastern Ghouta.

But the single volley of raids, hitting three targets far from any frontline, had no effect on the wider war which has killed 500,000 people and made more than half of Syrians homeless.

International inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) who arrived in Damascus nearly a week ago were still waiting early on Friday to visit the site of the suspected poison gas attack.

However, a Reuters witness saw a vehicle with licence plates used by international organisations and escorted by Russian military police near the site in Douma on Friday, three days after UN security personnel doing reconnaissance for the OPCW inspectors was forced to turn back because of gunfire.

Syria and its ally Russia deny using chemical weapons in the assault on Douma. The Western countries say the Syrian government, which now controls the town, is keeping the inspectors out and may be tampering with evidence, both accusations Damascus and Moscow deny.

Physicians for Human Rights, a US-based rights group, voiced “grave concern” over reports that Douma hospital staff had faced “extreme intimidation” after the area came back under government control to stop them talking about the incident.

The surrender of the enclave in south Damascus, which includes the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, Hajar al-Aswad district and neighbouring areas, will bring the entire area around the capital back under Assad’s control.

Under the deal, Islamic State fighters, who control part of the enclave, will leave for territory the group controls in eastern Syria, while other factions leave for opposition territory in the north, state media reported.

Sporadic shelling persisted, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said. State television said the military campaign was continuing because insurgents had not agreed to all details of the surrender. The Observatory said it was because some of the Islamic State fighters still rejected the deal.

Yarmouk was the biggest camp for Palestinian refugees in Syria before the war. Although most residents have fled, up to 12,000 remain there and in the neighbouring areas under jihadist or rebel control, said the UN agency that helps them.

“There are reports that large numbers of people have been displaced from Yarmouk Camp to the neighbouring area of Yalda. There are also reports of civilian casualties,” said Christopher Gunness, the spokesman for the UN agency responsible for Palestinian camps.

Jihadist shelling of an adjoining neighbourhood injured five people, Damascus police were cited as saying early on Friday by state television.

Rebels on Thursday began pulling out of Dumayr, an enclave northeast of Damascus, under a surrender deal with the government. Insurgents in another enclave nearby - Eastern Qalamoun - said they had also agreed to withdraw.

Thousands of civilians, including the fighters’ families, are expected to leave with them for northern Syria before the areas come back under Assad’s rule under deals similar to others carried out across the country as government forces advance.

The United Nations has voiced concern that such “evacuations” involve the displacement of civilians under threat of reprisals or forced conscription. The government denies that.

“The UN expects further displacements in the near future to northern Syria from other locations controlled by non-state armed groups where negotiations reportedly are happening,” the world body said in a humanitarian note.

Conditions in the opposition-held pocket of northern Syria where the displaced will go are poor.
Rebels in Qalamoun begin to evacuate after agreeing to surrender the region to Syria's government.