Amid regime’s denial and away from its media, a batch of ISIS fighters and their families get out of south Damascus towards the Syrian Desert
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the exit of fighters of the “Islamic State” organization from the south of Damascus towards the Syrian Desert, and in details obtained by the Syrian Observatory: a number of buses entered after midnight of yesterday to areas controlled by the “Islamic State” Organization in the southern part of the capital Damascus, to carry on board fighters of the organization and their families, after that the buses exited and departed towards the Syrian Desert, all of that took place in a complete secrecy and away of the Syrian regime’s media amid denial by the regime, the Syrian Observatory published yesterday night that cautious calm has been still continuing in the south of Damascus since today noon, Saturday the 19th of May 2018, where it prevails the battle fronts and contact lines between the regime forces backed by armed militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities and the “Islamic State” organization, in Yarmouk Camp and al-Tadamon, where the aerial, artillery and rocket shelling, shooting and fighting were stopped in all of the areas, amid anticipation for a final and complete agreement leads to the evacuating the members of the organization from Yarmouk Camp and al-Tadamon, and transfer them to another destination believed to be the Syrian desert.
In the same context, it rose to 10 persons at least (5 people of the same family including a child girl and 5 others including 2 citizen women), the number of citizens who were killed as a result of shelling by the regime forces and warplanes on ISIS controlled areas, in Yarmouk Camp in the southern part of the capital Damascus, raising to 62 persons including 16 children and 9 women, the number of casualties who have been killed since the 19th of April 2018, in the shelling by the regime forces by artillery and rocket shells missiles believed to be ground-to-ground, and the bombardment by warplanes and helicopters by missiles, bombs and explosive barrels, while the number of casualties may increase because of the presence of tens of injuries and missing people, where a number of injuries have seriously wounded and others are in critical situations, while the fate of many of the missing people is still unknown, weather they have died or are still alive, where the citizens and rescuers try when the pace of shelling decreases, to extract stuck people or bodies from the rubble of destruction caused by the shelling on Yarmouk Camp and the rest controlled areas of the organization.
The Syrian Observatory published yesterday that the military operations south of the capital Damascus, have completed its first month since its outbreak on 19th of April 2018, after the “Islamic State” organization’s break for the agreement reached with the regime forces and allies; about the leave of ISIS from the neighborhoods of al-Kadam, al-Hajar al-Aswad, Yarmouk Camp, and, al-Tadamon to the Syrian Desert, and the pace of clashes continued to escalate as a result of regime forces’ attempt to end the existence of the Organization in the area, where the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities kept on advancing, until they were able to achieve the first strategic advancement by controlling al-Kadam neighbourhood and then controlling the enclave located on the northern outskirts of Yarmouk Camp, which is under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, which left the area by an agreement with the regime, by which its members with their families moved to Idlib province north of Syria, followed by another advancement by the regime forces in al-Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood where they controlled vast portions of it, after that the organization started carrying out a counterattack, in which ISIS managed to restore areas and killed tens of members of the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them, which pushed the latter to carry out a counterattack resulted in its control over the entire neighbourhood of al-Hajar al-Aswad, in addition to advancing and controlling more than 30% of Yarmouk Camp and also they attempted to advance in al-Tadamon neighbourhood, until today, 19th of May from 2018, the date in which a ceasefire took place between the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, and between members of the “Islamic State” organization, in the remaining section south of Damascus which is less than 70% of Yarmouk Camp, and a part of al-Tadamon neighbourhood, paving the way for reaching a full agreement for the exit and withdrawal of members of the “Islamic State” organization from the south of Damascus, towards another destination believed to be the Syrian desert.
Full month of violent battles, accompanied by intense shelling by the regime forces and its allies of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, by rocket and artillery shelling, and by missiles believed to be ground-to-ground, amid bombardment by the warplanes and helicopter by the missiles, shells and barrel bombs, which caused great destruction in the property of citizens and infrastructure, where hundreds of buildings, houses and shops were destroyed, also the clash fronts and contact lines between both parties have witnessed exchange of targeting by missiles, shells and booby-trapped vehicles.