Syrian Army Warns Militants to Leave Southern Damascus Immediately

The army gave a last ultimatum to the ISIL and Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front) to leave their positions in the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp at the earliest.

The army had given a month-long ultimatum in early November to the ISIL and Fatah al-Sham to withdraw forces from Yarmouk camp.

ISIL controls nearly 80 percent of Yarmouk camp and al-Nusra Front is in charge of the remaining 20 percent. Al-Nusra Front is trapped in the siege of ISIL and both of the terrorist groups are trapped in the circle of Syrian government forces.

A pro-government Palestinian commander said that the army’s November ultimatum to the terrorists in Yarmouk will end next week and an evacuation agreement is expected to be signed and come into force.

Yet, he cautioned that there are still some tough disagreements between the ISIL and Fatah al-Sham inside the Yarmouk camp. A part of the militants intend to join a peace agreement with government and leave the region, while others believe the opposite insisting on remaining in the camp.

“The Syrian army has targeted the positions of ISIL and Fatah al-Sham in the camp in the last two days,” he added.

While terrorists in Western and Northern Damascus have all left their positions towards Idlib and the army men have taken large regions in Eastern Ghouta in recent weeks, the army wants to also completely purge the Southern parts of the province from the terrorists to focus on its fresh operation to take back the city of Douma, the main bastion of Jeish al-Islam terrorists in Eastern Damascus.

A source in Syria’s reconciliation committee declared on Saturday that all the militants, who had joined a ceasefire agreement with Syrian government and applied for evacuation, left the town of al-Tal in Northern Damascus for Idlib.

“In line with the trend of peace in Damascus province, nearly 1,800 militants were evacuated from al-Tal on 46 buses on Friday afternoon,” the source said, and reiterated, “The town is now completely empty of the militants who had applied for evacuation.”

The source further added that the cases of those militants who intended to remain in al-Tal is under study, promising that they would soon receive amnesty based on the presidential decree.

The Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria in Humeimim announced that the first group of militants, who had joined the peace agreement with the government this week, left the town of al-Tal towards militant-held regions in Idlib province on Friday morning.

“A 400-member group of militants and their families have been evacuated from al-Tal on several buses heading towards Idlib province,” the Russian center said.

Some 1,400 more left the city in the afternoon.

The center also said that 1846 militants and 1164 members of their families left Khan al-Sheih from November 28 till December 1, adding that the militants and their families were also sent to Idlib.

The center added that 1005 more militants along with 300 family members are also expected to leave Khan al-Sheih in coming days.

Militants handed over two tanks, several vehicles, four anti-aircraft canons, three dragon anti-tank missile launcher-pads and over 400 personal weapons to the Syrian army before leaving Khan al-Sheih.

“Khan al-Sheih and 13 other towns have come under the army’s control since December 1,” the center added.

The last group of militants that had joined the peace agreement with the Syrian government in Western Ghouta was evacuated from the two key towns of Khan al-Sheih and Zakiya under the Syrian Army troops’ monitoring.

The last group of militants left the towns of Khan al-Sheih and Zakiya, leaving Western Damascus evacuated from terrorists.

The militants left Khan al-Sheih towards the terrorist-held regions in Idlib.

Based on field sources, Khan al-Sheih and its surroundings have been evacuated from militants, pushing Western Damascus one step more closer to sustainable security.

A major part of 2,100 local militants and their families were transferred from Khan al-Sheih and Zakiyeh to Idlib on Friday and the remaining militants are due to move to Idlib on Saturday.

65 government’s green buses with 35 seats transferred the last group of militants from Western Damascus to Idlib.

The first group of militant left the region with 29 buses towards Idlib on Tuesday.