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. 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. 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. 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 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.
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.