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Syrian troops regain control over southern neighborhood of Damascus — media

On Tuesday, Islamic State militants opened fire on Syrian military that had started a mine clearance operation in Qadam

MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Syrian troops on Tuesday regained control over Qadam neighborhood, located in the southern outskirts of Damascus, the Ad-Diyar daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.

It said the government troops retook the enclave after members of the radical armed group Ajnad al-Sham had left it. All in all, 300 militants with their relatives (more than 1,000 people) left Qadam, the newspaper said. They all boarded buses for the city of Qalaat Al Madiq in the norther province of Idlib.

An agreement on the withdrawal of militants from the south of Damascus was reached in September 2017, but it has not been put into practice in full. Terrorists from Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) have prevented the troops from regaining control over the southern outskirts of the city. They keep holding the nearby refugee camp Yarmouk, as well as the neighborhoods of Tadamon, al-Hajar al-Aswad and al-Asali.

On Tuesday, Islamic State militants opened fire on Syrian military that had started a mine clearance operation in Qadam. IS militants suffered losses in retaliation artillery fire on their positions.