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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Syria army declares capital and outskirts ‘completely secure’

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DAMASCUS: Syria’s army said on Monday it has “completely” secured the capital Damascus and its outskirts after ousting the IS group, marking a major milestone in the country’s seven-year war.  “The Syrian army announces today that Damascus, its outskirts and surrounding towns are completely secure,” a military spokesman said on state media.


The development came after troops had captured a southern portion of Damascus including the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmuk from IS, he said.


Evacuations of IS fighters from their final stronghold in Damascus ended on Monday. With a blend of military pressure and negotiated withdrawals, Assad has flushed rebels out of key territory around Damascus in recent months, leaving a last pocket of IS fighters in the capital’s south.


His troops and allied Palestinian militiamen have fought since April 19 to recapture the area covering the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk and the adjacent districts of Qadam, Tadamun and Hajar al Aswad.


A ceasefire at the weekend ushered in a brief wave of evacuations that wrapped up at around midday on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.


“The evacuations are over, after 32 buses took 1,600 people including IS fighters and their relatives out of southern Damascus on Sunday and Monday,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.


He said Syrian troops then entered IS-held parts of Yarmuk for combing operations.


Abdel Rahman said IS sleeper cells may remain in Yarmuk, however, and further military operations could lie ahead before the area is declared secure.


Under the deal, the first buses of IS fighters and civilians left southern Damascus early on Sunday morning and a second batch evacuated the following night.


The Britain-based monitor said they headed towards Syria’s Badiyah, a vast stretch of desert in the country’s centre and east where IS still controls some territory.


As Yarmuk and adjacent areas are now under its control, Syria’s government has fully secured Damascus and its outskirts from any military threat for the first time since 2012.


The regime has not confirmed any deal with IS.


But in a first official comment on evacuations, a military source said on Monday that a brief ceasefire had allowed some civilians to be transferred out overnight.


The source told state news agency SANA that women and children were bussed out, but pledged the government would resume its operations at noon (0900 GMT) on Monday.


AFP’s correspondent in Damascus saw black smoke emerging from the capital’s southern skyline around that time.


The latest evacuations, according to the Observatory, leave the government in control of Tadamun, Qadam and Hajar al Aswad.


But the secretive nature of the withdrawals meant it was not immediately clear how many IS fighters or civilians — if any —remained in Yarmuk, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman earlier said.


The evacuations had been taking place with no media present.


“The Syrian government does not admit to negotiating with IS and wants to make sure the convoy is not targeted by the coalition led by Washington,” he said. — AFP


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