Regime forces begin major offensive to uproot Daesh from southern Damascus

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Regime forces began bombarding the Hajr al-Aswad neighborhood and Yarmouk Palestinian camp inside Damascus only hours after reports surfaced that Daesh (ISIS) militants would be given two days to leave, activists said Thursday.

Local opposition activist Sami Dreid, in the nearby Yalda neighborhood, told AP that the militants were expected to relocate to Daesh-held territory in the east Syrian desert. He said it was not clear why the deal appeared to have fallen through.

ISIS still has a presence in Yarmuk, and the neighbouring areas of Hajar al-Aswad, Tadamon and Qadam.

Yarmuk used to be the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, with a population of 160,000, but only a few thousand people remain inside the devastated area.

Well-informed sources told Zaman al-Wasl on Thursday that senior Daesh commanders had fled southern suburbs of Damascus.

Abu Naser al-Janadi, one of ISIS masterminds, has fled to southern Daraa province where an ISIS affiliated groups is still operating near the Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights. Abu Khaled al-Sharei, a 'jurist' in the radical group, was also escaped regime shelling to Daraa.

Sources said a smuggling network related to the Syrian regime and intelligence services has been facilitating the move of ISIS commanders.

Two more senior commanders left to the northern province of Idlib. They were identified as Khaled Barakat and Abu George al-Idlibi.

After fully retaking the Eastern Ghouta region on the edge of the capital, the regime has turned its attention to other areas across the country that still escape its control.

Among them are neighbourhoods in southern Damascus from which many civilians have fled but are still held by ISIS, including the Yarmuk area that hosts a Palestinian refugee camp.

"Regime forces shelled several ISIS positions in Yarmuk camp and Hajar al-Aswad, killing one person and wounded several others," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Both sides had traded fire the previous night, the Britain-based monitor said, causing at least five deaths, most of them regime soldiers. (With Agencies)

Zaman Al Wasl