Syria's military announced Monday that it cleared Damascus and its suburbs of the last elements of the Islamic state militant group, ISIS.

According to government reports, the Syrian army had driven ISIS out of the rebel group's last remaining strongholds in southern Damascus; this marks the first time that President Bashar al-Assad's government has total control of the capital since the rebellion began in 2011.

Syrian state TV broadcast footage of tanks rolling through a shattered neighborhood once held by rebels, as government troops waved the national flag. Army Gen. Ali Mayhoub announced that military operations in and around the capital had been a success and that the area is "completely secure" after the army captured former ISIS strongholds of Yarmouk refugee camp and the Hajar al-Aswad district south of the capital.

The military left "big numbers of Daesh (ISIS) terrorists dead," reported the Syrian Arab News Agency.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group downplayed the military victory, saying that it was a "secret agreement" between the government and ISIS that allowed the rebels to depart.

The organization claimed that ISIS fighters and their families boarded "some 32 buses that carried out about 1600 people aboard" and that they were driven toward the Syrian Desert.

Syrian state media denied there was a deal to evacuate fighters, according to the Associated Press, which quoted one military official as saying that a two-day truce had been arranged to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad.

Amy Austin Holmes, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told NPR that this was an historic day for Assad's government. "The regime has been saying for some time now that they want to take back all of Syria. This is just one more step toward accomplishing that goal."

She added, "Whether it will be able to retake all area currently under Kurdish control, that is a whole other question."

With support from Russia and Iran, Syrian forces have made sweeping victories in territories controlled by the opposition. The spring saw thousands of rebel fighters surrender and board crammed buses out of eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, following weeks of bombardment.

In April, the Syrian army took control of at least two villages from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces east of the Euphrates River, near the border with Iraq where Kurdish forces had control.

In 2016, government forces enjoyed their biggest victory, capturing neighborhoods in Aleppo that rebels had controlled for years. As Syria's largest city, Aleppo was considered "the heart of the revolution."

More than 5.6 million people have fled the war-torn country since the civil war started and 6.6 are internally displaced.</s>The Syrian Army has liberated the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, located south of Damascus, from terrorists, a security services source told.

Damascus is completely freed from militants as the Syrian Army clears the last stronghold, according to the source. The information has been confirmed by the Syrian Army.

“The Syrian Army has liberated the Yarmouk camp south of Damascus and hoisted the Syrian flag there,” the source said.

Syrian state television says the Syrian army has taken control of the Daesh-help Al Hajar Al Aswad district South of Damascus.

“As a result of a joint operation of our armed forces and allies, Al Hajar Al Aswad and the surrounding territories have been completely liberated from terrorists,” the army said in a statement.

The Syrian army is clearing out the last remaining blocks of the recently liberated Yarmouk camp, located in the south of Damascus, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

A Syrian officer said that the soldiers should inspect every building in the camp in order to find potential suicide attackers or snipers to avoid violence in the future.

Earlier, the Syrian government forces regained control over the eastern neighborhoods of the district of Yarmouk located south of Damascus. The operation was launched after the liberation of Eastern Ghouta on Damascus’ outskirts from militants. with the last remaining town, Douma, being retaken from militants on April 12.

Yarmouk refugee camp and surrounding settlements were the last strongholds of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) and al Nusra Front terrorists near Damascus. Since an armed conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, the Yarmouk refugee camp for Palestinian and Syrian refugees had been regularly taken over by different militant groups, which has resulted in catastrophic humanitarian conditions for the refugees. Currently, some 18,000 refugees live in the camp.</s>BEIRUT -- Syria's military said Monday it had retaken the last neighborhoods in southern Damascus held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and declared the Syrian capital and its surroundings "completely safe" from militants for the first time in nearly seven years. Reading an army statement on Syrian TV, Gen. Ali Mayhoub said the army captured the former ISIS strongholds in the Palestinian Yarmouk camp and Hajar al-Aswad after a month-long campaign. He said the army operations were "concentrated and successive," leading to the extremists' defeat in the city.

The gains by President Bashar Assad's troops bring greater Damascus -- including the capital's far-flung suburbs -- fully under government control for the first time since the civil war began in 2011.

"Damascus and its surroundings are completely secure," Mayhoub said.

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State TV earlier said that government forces resumed an offensive at noon after a group of civilians was evacuated from the area overnight. Two hours later, the TV said troops captured ISIS' former stronghold of Hajar al-Aswad and broadcast images showing troops waving the Syrian national flag in the heavily destroyed neighborhood.

A war monitoring group said some 1,600 people, including hundreds of ISIS gunmen, left the area on Saturday and Sunday, heading toward the desert east of the country following a deal with the government. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces were now clearing the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, a built-up residential area, of the last remaining ISIS fighters. It said the month of fighting left scores dead on both sides.

The TV earlier quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying the two-day truce had been in place to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad. Syrian state media denied a deal was reached to evacuate fighters.

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The push into Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk came after government forces captured the last rebel-held southern and eastern suburbs of Damascus, boosting security in Assad's seat of power.

"The Daesh terrorist organization was wiped out in Hajar al-Aswad," an unnamed Syrian soldier told state TV, using an Arabic acronym to refer to ISIS. "We will keep marching until we liberate all parts of Syria."

Assad's forces have been making steady gains since 2015, when Russia launched an air campaign on behalf of his forces. In December 2016, government forces captured rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, marking Assad's biggest victory since the conflict began. In March and April, thousands of opposition fighters surrendered and were evacuated from Damascus suburbs known as eastern Ghouta, after a crushing government offensive.

Shortly before noon on Monday, when the truce was supposed to end in Hajar al-Aswad, government warplanes struck ISIS positions as Syrian troops began advancing deeper into the neighborhood. The Observatory said ISIS fighters have been setting their offices and vehicles on fire so that government forces would not be able to seize equipment or documents belonging to the group.

The extremists have been driven from nearly all the territory they once held in Syria and neighboring Iraq, but still maintain a presence in remote areas along the border.

Both Russia and Iran have provided crucial military support to Assad's forces, giving them the upper hand in the civil war.

Iran nuclear deal is "exactly why Iran is in Syria," says Vice President Mike Pence

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Assad during a meeting last week that a political settlement in Syria should encourage foreign countries to withdraw their troops from Syria. Putin's envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, said the Russian leader was referring to Iranian forces.

But on Monday, Tehran appeared to reject that idea, saying its forces will remain in Syria and continue fighting "terrorism" at the request of the Syrian government.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters Monday that no one can force Tehran to do anything it doesn't desire to do. "Our presence in Syria has been based on a request by the Syrian government and Iran will continue its support as long as the Syrian government wants," he said.</s>Syria's military announced Monday that it cleared Damascus and its suburbs of the last elements of the Islamic state militant group, ISIS.

According to government reports, the Syrian army had driven ISIS out of the rebel group's last remaining strongholds in southern Damascus; this marks the first time that President Bashar al-Assad's government has total control of the capital since the rebellion began in 2011.

Syrian state TV broadcast footage of tanks rolling through a shattered neighborhood once held by rebels, as government troops waved the national flag. Army Gen. Ali Mayhoub announced that military operations in and around the capital had been a success and that the area is "completely secure" after the army captured former ISIS strongholds of Yarmouk refugee camp and the Hajar al-Aswad district south of the capital.

The military left "big numbers of Daesh (ISIS) terrorists dead," reported the Syrian Arab News Agency.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group downplayed the military victory, saying that it was a "secret agreement" between the government and ISIS that allowed the rebels to depart.

The organization claimed that ISIS fighters and their families boarded "some 32 buses that carried out about 1600 people aboard" and that they were driven toward the Syrian Desert.

Syrian state media denied there was a deal to evacuate fighters, according to the Associated Press, which quoted one military official as saying that a two-day truce had been arranged to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad.

Amy Austin Holmes, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told NPR that this was an historic day for Assad's government. "The regime has been saying for some time now that they want to take back all of Syria. This is just one more step toward accomplishing that goal."

She added, "Whether it will be able to retake all area currently under Kurdish control, that is a whole other question."

With support from Russia and Iran, Syrian forces have made sweeping victories in territories controlled by the opposition. The spring saw thousands of rebel fighters surrender and board crammed buses out of eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, following weeks of bombardment.

In April, the Syrian army took control of at least two villages from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces east of the Euphrates River, near the border with Iraq where Kurdish forces had control.

In 2016, government forces enjoyed their biggest victory, capturing neighborhoods in Aleppo that rebels had controlled for years. As Syria's largest city, Aleppo was considered "the heart of the revolution."

More than 5.6 million people have fled the war-torn country since the civil war started and 6.6 are internally displaced.</s>The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad on Monday recaptured the last area of Damascus under opposition control Monday following a plan to evacuate the remaining fighters from the Islamic State terror organization and their families from the area, the army said.

Groups of IS fighters holed up in an area of south Damascus, including the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk, were bussed out in what will come as a coup de grace for Assad's regime as it takes full control of the capital, the suburbs and the outlying countryside for the first time since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.</s>The Syrian government forces on Monday announced that the last extremist stronghold in southern Damascus, the al-Hajar al-Aswad District, has been recaptured, marking the military's complete control over Damascus and its suburb areas after seven years of fighting.



The al-Hajar al-Aswad District is seven kilometers to downtown Damascus. The government troops on April 19 began its military operation to take back the district, along with the adjacent Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp which were occupied by extremists, using airstrikes and intensive cannon and rocket strikes.





Earlier in the day, The Syrian government denied reports that the government forces observed a brief ceasefire with extremists on Sunday.It stated that the government forces only implemented a short-term moratorium so that women, children, and the elderly could withdraw, and resumed cleanup operations on the afternoon of Monday, eventually ending the extremists' presence in the capital and its surrounding areas."In the last period (of the operation), we surrounded the local extremists, and the encirclement became very small as we are closing in. The combat with extremists became very short-ranged, and we eventually neutralized them," said Colonel Ahmad Ezzeldin.The recapture of al-Hajar al-Aswad District marks the complete liberation of Damascus since 2011. The government forces will continue to sweep houses and tunnels for hidden suicide attackers and snipers next.</s>Syria's military announced Monday that it cleared Damascus and its suburbs of the last elements of the Islamic state militant group, ISIS.

According to government reports, the Syrian army had driven ISIS out of the rebel group's last remaining strongholds in southern Damascus; this marks the first time that President Bashar al-Assad's government has total control of the capital since the rebellion began in 2011.

Syrian state TV broadcast footage of tanks rolling through a shattered neighborhood once held by rebels, as government troops waved the national flag. Army Gen. Ali Mayhoub announced that military operations in and around the capital had been a success and that the area is "completely secure" after the army captured former ISIS strongholds of Yarmouk refugee camp and the Hajar al-Aswad district south of the capital.

The military left "big numbers of Daesh (ISIS) terrorists dead," reported the Syrian Arab News Agency.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group downplayed the military victory, saying that it was a "secret agreement" between the government and ISIS that allowed the rebels to depart.

The organization claimed that ISIS fighters and their families boarded "some 32 buses that carried out about 1600 people aboard" and that they were driven toward the Syrian Desert.

Syrian state media denied there was a deal to evacuate fighters, according to the Associated Press, which quoted one military official as saying that a two-day truce had been arranged to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad.

Amy Austin Holmes, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told NPR that this was an historic day for Assad's government. "The regime has been saying for some time now that they want to take back all of Syria. This is just one more step toward accomplishing that goal."

She added, "Whether it will be able to retake all area currently under Kurdish control, that is a whole other question."

With support from Russia and Iran, Syrian forces have made sweeping victories in territories controlled by the opposition. The spring saw thousands of rebel fighters surrender and board crammed buses out of eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, following weeks of bombardment.

In April, the Syrian army took control of at least two villages from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces east of the Euphrates River, near the border with Iraq where Kurdish forces had control.

In 2016, government forces enjoyed their biggest victory, capturing neighborhoods in Aleppo that rebels had controlled for years. As Syria's largest city, Aleppo was considered "the heart of the revolution."

More than 5.6 million people have fled the war-torn country since the civil war started and 6.6 are internally displaced.</s>Syria's military announced Monday that it cleared Damascus and its suburbs of the last elements of the Islamic state militant group, ISIS.

According to government reports, the Syrian army had driven ISIS out of the rebel group's last remaining strongholds in southern Damascus; this marks the first time that President Bashar al-Assad's government has total control of the capital since the rebellion began in 2011.

Syrian state TV broadcast footage of tanks rolling through a shattered neighborhood once held by rebels, as government troops waved the national flag. Army Gen. Ali Mayhoub announced that military operations in and around the capital had been a success and that the area is "completely secure" after the army captured former ISIS strongholds of Yarmouk refugee camp and the Hajar al-Aswad district south of the capital.

The military left "big numbers of Daesh (ISIS) terrorists dead," reported the Syrian Arab News Agency.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group downplayed the military victory, saying that it was a "secret agreement" between the government and ISIS that allowed the rebels to depart.

The organization claimed that ISIS fighters and their families boarded "some 32 buses that carried out about 1600 people aboard" and that they were driven toward the Syrian Desert.

Syrian state media denied there was a deal to evacuate fighters, according to the Associated Press, which quoted one military official as saying that a two-day truce had been arranged to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad.

Amy Austin Holmes, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told NPR that this was an historic day for Assad's government. "The regime has been saying for some time now that they want to take back all of Syria. This is just one more step toward accomplishing that goal."

She added, "Whether it will be able to retake all area currently under Kurdish control, that is a whole other question."

With support from Russia and Iran, Syrian forces have made sweeping victories in territories controlled by the opposition. The spring saw thousands of rebel fighters surrender and board crammed buses out of eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, following weeks of bombardment.

In April, the Syrian army took control of at least two villages from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces east of the Euphrates River, near the border with Iraq where Kurdish forces had control.

In 2016, government forces enjoyed their biggest victory, capturing neighborhoods in Aleppo that rebels had controlled for years. As Syria's largest city, Aleppo was considered "the heart of the revolution."

More than 5.6 million people have fled the war-torn country since the civil war started and 6.6 are internally displaced.</s>The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies are about to re-establish full control of the southern Damascus countryside. The SAA has already liberated the entire district of al-Hajar al-Aswad and the rest of the area from ISIS.

On May 19, the SAA and the remaining ISIS militants reached a temporary ceasefire in the area. On May 20, a number of buses entered the area hinting that ISIS was ready to surrender. On May 21, ISIS members started wihdrawing from the area.

The Syrian state media is ignoring this situation and avoiding to cover the deal because of PR reasons. The same strategy has been repeatedly implemented by the US-led coalition and the mainstream media when the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces were making deals with ISIS in Raqqah, Manbij and Tabqah.

On May 20, locals held a general strike against the SDF to protest the forcible recruitment into the ranks of the group. According to the pro-opposition news outlet Baladi News, SDF security forces, mainly consisting of members of Kurdish YPG/YPJ militias, opened fire at some closed shops and broke into many others in the districts of al-Saraya and Dwairat al-Hadrah.

This development is an example of the current tensions between locals and the SDF in northern Syria. Despite the US-led coalition’s claims that the SDF is a multinational group, the real political and military power in the area is concentrated in the hands of a few Kurdish organizations with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) posing as a sole political powerbroker.

On the same day, the SDF started another attempt to captured the town of Hajin in the Euphrates Valley from ISIS. According to reports, the attack is supported by warplanes and artillery of the US-led coalition.

Currently, Hajin is the key ISIS stronghold in the Euphrates Valley. About 1,500 ISIS members are believed to be hiding in the town and several villages near it.

Earlier, French troops operating under the US-led coalition reportedly established six artillery batteries to provide fire support to the SDF.

France has recently increased its military presence in the SDF-held area in northern Syria. French forces have reportedly started preparations to establish a new military facility, west of Raqqah. If this is confirmed, it will be the sixth French military facility in the SDF-held area.

The expanding US and French military infrastructure on the eastern bank of the Euphrates clearly shows that the US-led coalition is not going to abandon this area allowing the Syrian government to integrate its by any means.

 As to the rest of the Syria, Washington and its allies seem to be abandoning the rest of militant groups, they have supported against the Assad government.

On May 19, an US official told CBS News that the Trump administration will halt its assistance to the militant-held areas in northwestern Syria, which includes the province of Idlib and parts of Aleppo, Lattakia and Hama provinces.

According to CBS News, tens of millions of dollars will be cut from US efforts in northwestern Syria, including projects for “countering violent extremism, supporting independent society and independent media, strengthening education, and advocating for community policing.”

When this is done, the SDF, with separatist intensions, will become the only US tool of influencing situation on the ground in central and northern Syria without direct military actions.

The Syrian army announced its units established control over al-Hajar al-Aswad area in southern Damascus, shortly after a resumption of military operations against a remaining pocket for terrorists in the area following a temporary humanitarian ceasefire to evacuate women, children and elderly, SANA’s reporter said.

Earlier in the day, SANA’s reporter said that the Syrian Air Force raided terrorists’ sites and fortified points in al-Hajar al-Aswad amid a collapse in the terrorists’ ranks.

The reporter added that infantry units stormed the building blocks in which terrorists were positioned and chased them along the narrow streets that served as their last resort.

A military source said that a temporary humanitarian ceasefire has been implemented on Sunday night to evacuate children, women and elderly men from al-Hajar al-Aswad area.

The General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces announced Damascus and its countryside entirely safe.</s>BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian capital of Damascus and its surrounding suburbs are entirely free of rebel fighters for the first time in seven years, the government said on Monday.

That milestone was achieved when the last Islamic State fighters reached an agreement with the government over the weekend to leave the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk and the neighboring town of Hajar al-Aswad and head to one of the militant group’s last strongholds in eastern Syria.

Their retreat, confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, ended weeks of fighting that had reduced the camp, once home to about 160,000, to smoking, dusty rubble.

After the final convoy of militants left, the government released a statement saying, “The Syrian General Command of the Army and Armed Forces announced Damascus and Damascus countryside entirely safe areas after fully cleansing al-Hajar al-Aswad and al-Yarmouk Camp of terrorism.”
Syrian government forces declare Damascus and its surroundings "completely safe" for the first time since 2011, after taking Yarmouk Camp and Hajar al-Aswad from ISIL.