Syrian Army Controls Capital After Ousting IS

Damascus, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd May, 2018 ) :Syria's army declared Monday it is in complete control of Damascus and its outskirts after a devastating battle that forced Islamic State group jihadists to flee their last pocket of resistance in the capital.

It marked a major milestone in the protracted war, which began in 2011 and saw parts of Damascus fall to armed rebels the following year. In recent months, President Bashar al-Assad has used a blend of military pressure and negotiated withdrawals to steadily flush rebels out of territory around Damascus.

But as a small IS holdout remained in the capital's south, troops and allied Palestinian militia launched an offensive last month to recapture the area covering the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk and adjacent districts of Qadam, Tadamun and Hajar al-Aswad.

On Monday, the army declared it had ousted IS from that zone, sealing its control of the capital.

"The Syrian army announces today that Damascus, its outskirts and surrounding towns are completely secure," it said in a statement carried on official media.

"The wheel of our progress on the battlefield will not stop until all Syrian land is purified." Standing on Route 30, a main street in the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk, a Lieutenant Mohsen Ismail, 22, sighed: "This was the last battle in Damascus.

I'm extremely happy." "Damascus will go back to the way it was. We'll forget the days of shelling and blood -- this victory will help us forget it all," he said, while some soldiers fired their weapons in the air in celebration. Hours after the army's announcement, black clouds of smoke still hung in the air and some small fires were still raging in the abandoned neighbourhoods.