aBEIRUT: Syrian regime forces Saturday took back control of the Islamic State group's last holdout in southern Syria after months of fighting, a war monitor said.

Regime forces retook Tulul al-Safa, between the provinces of Damascus and Sweida, "after IS fighters withdrew from it and headed east into the Badia desert", the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Regime forces have been fighting the militants in the area since a deadly July attack on the Druze minority in Sweida province.

In recent weeks, air strikes on the Tulul al-Safa pocket had increased and hundreds of regime fighters were sent as reinforcements, the Observatory said. The militants´ withdrawal was likely "under a deal with the regime forces" after weeks of encirclement and air raids, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. State news agency SANA reported regime forces had made "a great advance in Tulul al-Safa" and said they were combing the area for any remaining militants.

In the July 25 attack, IS killed more than 250 people, most of them civilians, in a wave of suicide bombings, shootings, and stabbings across Sweida province. The militants also kidnapped around 30 people -- mostly women and children. </s> The brutal Assad regime has recaptured Tulul al-Safa from Islamic State militants.

Syrian regime forces Saturday took back control of the Islamic State group's last holdout in southern Syria after months of fighting, a war monitor said.

Regime forces retook Tulul al-Safa, between the provinces of Damascus and Sweida, "after IS fighters withdrew from it and headed east into the Badia desert", the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Regime forces have been fighting the militants in the area since a deadly July attack on the Druze minority in Sweida province.

In recent weeks, air strikes on the Tulul al-Safa pocket had increased and hundreds of regime fighters were sent as reinforcements, the Observatory said.

The militants' withdrawal was likely "under a deal with the regime forces" after weeks of encirclement and air raids, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

State news agency SANA reported regime forces had made "a great advance in Tulul al-Safa" and said they were combing the area for any remaining jihadists.

In the July 25 attack, IS killed more than 250 people, most of them civilians, in a wave of suicide bombings, shootings, and stabbings across Sweida province.

The jihadists also kidnapped around 30 people -- mostly women and children -- during the deadliest assault on Syria's Druze community in the seven-year civil war.

Twenty-three of the hostages have since returned home, while the remainder appear to have died or been executed by the jihadists.

The province is the heartland of the country's Druze minority, which made up roughly three percent of Syria's pre-war population -- or about 700,000 people.

Followers of a secretive offshoot of Islam, the Druze are considered heretics by the extremists of IS.

IS overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in land it controlled.

But the militant group has since lost most of it to various offensives in both countries. </s> BEIRUT, LEBANON (5:55 P.M.) – Minutes ago, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) scored another important victory in northern Syria, liberating an Islamic State (ISIL) controlled oil field in the Al-Raqqa Governorate.

Led by their elite Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army began the day by storming the Al-Fahd Oil Field and nearby Al-Fahd Oil Station; this would result in a fierce battle with the Islamic State terrorists in southern Al-Raqqa.

Finally, by the late afternoon, the Syrian Arab Army was able to impose full control over the Al-Fahd Oil Field and Oil Station, forcing the remaining Islamic State terrorists to retreat south.

With the liberation of the Al-Fahd Oil Field, today, the Syrian Arab Army has liberated at least a half dozen oil fields from the Islamic State’s grip this week. </s> The Syrian army battled ISIL on the edges of Deir Ezzor Monday, seeking to break the siege of a government enclave and oust the extremists from a key stronghold.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Syrian army is advancing toward the besieged city of Deir Ezzor with the assistance of the Russian aviation.

The Syrian government forces have driven ISIL terrorists out of strategic positions on the Palmyra-Deir Ezzor highway, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“Syrian army’s units conducting the offensive from the direction of as-Sukhnah [city in the Raqqa province], have driven ISIL terrorists out from positions they had controlled on the highway from Palmyra to Deir Ezzor.”

The ministry added that the Syrian Armed Force’s group conducting the operation to free Deir Ezzor has advanced 8 kilometers over the past 24 hours and captured 2 strategic heights in the region.

“Two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, over 10 off-road vehicles equipped with heavy arms have been destroyed as a result of the [Russian] airstrikes. Terrorists lost a total of 70 fighters who were killed or injured,” the Russian ministry said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the victory over ISIL terrorists in Deir Ezzor and the lifting of the city’s siege “will become the strategic loss of the international terrorist group in the Syrian Arab Republic.”

Provincial governor Mohamed Ibrahim Samra, quoted by state news agency SANA, said besieged residents were already celebrating as the army neared.

“Yesterday Deir Ezzor city saw celebrations and rejoicing among all segments of society ahead of the expected victory with the advance of the Syrian Arab Army to the outskirts of the besieged city,” he said.

Government forces have lifted a 3-years long ISIS siege from the city of Deir Ezzor, according to pro-government sources.

Last weekend, government forces, led by the SAA Tiger Forces and supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, recaptured a large area including Bir Ghabaghib and al-Shula villages. On Monday, government troops reportedly reached the 137 Regiment area in western Deir Ezzor and met with Republican Guard units there.

If it’s confirmed, the next SAA goal will be to establish a full control over the Sukhna-Deir Ezzor highway and to liberate the entire city.

ISIS responded to the SAA advance with launching multiple attacks against government forces positions inside the city. Separately, the terrorist group deployed large reinforcements to al-Mayadeen preparing for a large attack in the Deir Ezzor area.

The only ISIS chance to counter the SAA advance is to bring off a successful battle using prepared fortifications inside and around Deir Ezzor and to conduct multiple raids against SAA supply lines using car bombs and technicals.

In other cases, ISIS days in Deir Ezzor city are numbered.

In eastern Hama, the SAA and its allies liberated the key town of Uqayribat and some nearby points after a series of intense clashes with ISIS terrorists. Now, government forces are working to clear the entire pocket.

The Syrian military has deployed at least one Russian TOS-1 heavy flamethrower system in order to strengthen the defense of Aleppo city.

The military is actively preparing for possible attacks of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and its allies from the so-called moderate opposition.

The SAA is now deeply involved in a large-scale anti-ISIS operation in Deir Ezzor province. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham may use this for launching an attack against government forces at some front in the province of Aleppo or Hama.

Several hours ago, reports came in that the strategic crossroad town of Ash-Shula was liberated, bringing vanguard SAA units advancing along the M20 highway to within 25 kilometers of the Panorama area.

Despite numerous reports that Ash-Shula was secured yesterday, this was actually not the case as the Tiger Forces troops who advanced on it decided to set up positions on the northern outskirts of the town and not enter into it.

Whilst it is currently unconfirmed which Syrian Army unit liberated Ash-Shula, with the possibilities being either the Tiger Forces of the 5th Assault Corps, it is most likely the case that it was the former (Tiger Forces) who in fact secured the town since they were the closest to it following yesterday’s advances.

ISIS RUN AWAY FROM 4 MORE VILLAGES IN EASTERN HAMA COUNTRYSIDE (SYRIA MAP)

On Monday, ISIS terrorists retreated from 4 more villages in the eastern Hama countryside under the pressure of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). As a result of this, government troops Mas’oud, Tawbiyah, Marami and Um Ramal and secured these areas.

Last weekend, the SAA liberated the town of Uqayribat from ISIS and the terrorist group’s defense collapsed in eastern Hama.

Filed under: AngloZionist Empire, Axis of Resistance, Hama, Hezbollah, ISIL, Russia, Syrian Army, War on Syria | Tagged: Deir Ezzor | </s> BEIRUT -- Syria's military said Monday it had retaken the last neighborhoods in southern Damascus held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and declared the Syrian capital and its surroundings "completely safe" from militants for the first time in nearly seven years. Reading an army statement on Syrian TV, Gen. Ali Mayhoub said the army captured the former ISIS strongholds in the Palestinian Yarmouk camp and Hajar al-Aswad after a month-long campaign. He said the army operations were "concentrated and successive," leading to the extremists' defeat in the city.

The gains by President Bashar Assad's troops bring greater Damascus -- including the capital's far-flung suburbs -- fully under government control for the first time since the civil war began in 2011.

"Damascus and its surroundings are completely secure," Mayhoub said.

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State TV earlier said that government forces resumed an offensive at noon after a group of civilians was evacuated from the area overnight. Two hours later, the TV said troops captured ISIS' former stronghold of Hajar al-Aswad and broadcast images showing troops waving the Syrian national flag in the heavily destroyed neighborhood.

A war monitoring group said some 1,600 people, including hundreds of ISIS gunmen, left the area on Saturday and Sunday, heading toward the desert east of the country following a deal with the government. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces were now clearing the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, a built-up residential area, of the last remaining ISIS fighters. It said the month of fighting left scores dead on both sides.

The TV earlier quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying the two-day truce had been in place to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad. Syrian state media denied a deal was reached to evacuate fighters.

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The push into Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk came after government forces captured the last rebel-held southern and eastern suburbs of Damascus, boosting security in Assad's seat of power.

"The Daesh terrorist organization was wiped out in Hajar al-Aswad," an unnamed Syrian soldier told state TV, using an Arabic acronym to refer to ISIS. "We will keep marching until we liberate all parts of Syria."

Assad's forces have been making steady gains since 2015, when Russia launched an air campaign on behalf of his forces. In December 2016, government forces captured rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, marking Assad's biggest victory since the conflict began. In March and April, thousands of opposition fighters surrendered and were evacuated from Damascus suburbs known as eastern Ghouta, after a crushing government offensive.

Shortly before noon on Monday, when the truce was supposed to end in Hajar al-Aswad, government warplanes struck ISIS positions as Syrian troops began advancing deeper into the neighborhood. The Observatory said ISIS fighters have been setting their offices and vehicles on fire so that government forces would not be able to seize equipment or documents belonging to the group.

The extremists have been driven from nearly all the territory they once held in Syria and neighboring Iraq, but still maintain a presence in remote areas along the border.

Both Russia and Iran have provided crucial military support to Assad's forces, giving them the upper hand in the civil war.

Iran nuclear deal is "exactly why Iran is in Syria," says Vice President Mike Pence

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Assad during a meeting last week that a political settlement in Syria should encourage foreign countries to withdraw their troops from Syria. Putin's envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, said the Russian leader was referring to Iranian forces.

But on Monday, Tehran appeared to reject that idea, saying its forces will remain in Syria and continue fighting "terrorism" at the request of the Syrian government.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters Monday that no one can force Tehran to do anything it doesn't desire to do. "Our presence in Syria has been based on a request by the Syrian government and Iran will continue its support as long as the Syrian government wants," he said. </s> On Monday morning, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) captured a new batch of villages in the eastern Aleppo countryside amid fierce clashes with ISIS militants in the region.

The advance was secured solely by the SAA’s Tiger Forces that have now imposed full control over the villages of Zarurah, Jubb al-Sultan, and Jubb al-Hamam.

Yesterday, the SAA captured a handful of villages from ISIS in the region but were mostly preoccupied with fighting off a Turkish Army assault on Tadef. The latter town is still under government control despite some reports to the contrary.

Due to today’s advance, the Tiger Forces are less than 5 kilometers from linking up with the Kurdish-led ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) near Manbij.

Both the SDF and SAA have clashed with the Euphrates Shield forces and ISIS in recent days; thus, a pragmatic alliance may be established.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Army are heavily shelling villages and towns held by the SDF in the region. Artillery strikes are ongoing on Al-Arimah and Sheikh Issa while some reports suggest the Turkish Armed Forces will soon begin an offensive to capture Manbij. </s> Syria's military announced Monday that it cleared Damascus and its suburbs of the last elements of the Islamic state militant group, ISIS.

According to government reports, the Syrian army had driven ISIS out of the rebel group's last remaining strongholds in southern Damascus; this marks the first time that President Bashar al-Assad's government has total control of the capital since the rebellion began in 2011.

Syrian state TV broadcast footage of tanks rolling through a shattered neighborhood once held by rebels, as government troops waved the national flag. Army Gen. Ali Mayhoub announced that military operations in and around the capital had been a success and that the area is "completely secure" after the army captured former ISIS strongholds of Yarmouk refugee camp and the Hajar al-Aswad district south of the capital.

The military left "big numbers of Daesh (ISIS) terrorists dead," reported the Syrian Arab News Agency.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group downplayed the military victory, saying that it was a "secret agreement" between the government and ISIS that allowed the rebels to depart.

The organization claimed that ISIS fighters and their families boarded "some 32 buses that carried out about 1600 people aboard" and that they were driven toward the Syrian Desert.

Syrian state media denied there was a deal to evacuate fighters, according to the Associated Press, which quoted one military official as saying that a two-day truce had been arranged to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad.

Amy Austin Holmes, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told NPR that this was an historic day for Assad's government. "The regime has been saying for some time now that they want to take back all of Syria. This is just one more step toward accomplishing that goal."

She added, "Whether it will be able to retake all area currently under Kurdish control, that is a whole other question."

With support from Russia and Iran, Syrian forces have made sweeping victories in territories controlled by the opposition. The spring saw thousands of rebel fighters surrender and board crammed buses out of eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, following weeks of bombardment.

In April, the Syrian army took control of at least two villages from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces east of the Euphrates River, near the border with Iraq where Kurdish forces had control.

In 2016, government forces enjoyed their biggest victory, capturing neighborhoods in Aleppo that rebels had controlled for years. As Syria's largest city, Aleppo was considered "the heart of the revolution."

More than 5.6 million people have fled the war-torn country since the civil war started and 6.6 are internally displaced. </s> BEIRUT -- Syria's military said Monday it had retaken the last neighborhoods in southern Damascus held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and declared the Syrian capital and its surroundings "completely safe" from militants for the first time in nearly seven years. Reading an army statement on Syrian TV, Gen. Ali Mayhoub said the army captured the former ISIS strongholds in the Palestinian Yarmouk camp and Hajar al-Aswad after a month-long campaign. He said the army operations were "concentrated and successive," leading to the extremists' defeat in the city.

The gains by President Bashar Assad's troops bring greater Damascus -- including the capital's far-flung suburbs -- fully under government control for the first time since the civil war began in 2011.

"Damascus and its surroundings are completely secure," Mayhoub said.

State TV earlier said that government forces resumed an offensive at noon after a group of civilians was evacuated from the area overnight. Two hours later, the TV said troops captured ISIS' former stronghold of Hajar al-Aswad and broadcast images showing troops waving the Syrian national flag in the heavily destroyed neighborhood.

A war monitoring group said some 1,600 people, including hundreds of ISIS gunmen, left the area on Saturday and Sunday, heading toward the desert east of the country following a deal with the government. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces were now clearing the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, a built-up residential area, of the last remaining ISIS fighters. It said the month of fighting left scores dead on both sides.

The TV earlier quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying the two-day truce had been in place to evacuate women, children and the elderly on Sunday night from Hajar al-Aswad. Syrian state media denied a deal was reached to evacuate fighters.

The push into Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk came after government forces captured the last rebel-held southern and eastern suburbs of Damascus, boosting security in Assad's seat of power.

"The Daesh terrorist organization was wiped out in Hajar al-Aswad," an unnamed Syrian soldier told state TV, using an Arabic acronym to refer to ISIS. "We will keep marching until we liberate all parts of Syria."

Assad's forces have been making steady gains since 2015, when Russia launched an air campaign on behalf of his forces. In December 2016, government forces captured rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, marking Assad's biggest victory since the conflict began. In March and April, thousands of opposition fighters surrendered and were evacuated from Damascus suburbs known as eastern Ghouta, after a crushing government offensive.

Shortly before noon on Monday, when the truce was supposed to end in Hajar al-Aswad, government warplanes struck ISIS positions as Syrian troops began advancing deeper into the neighborhood. The Observatory said ISIS fighters have been setting their offices and vehicles on fire so that government forces would not be able to seize equipment or documents belonging to the group.

The extremists have been driven from nearly all the territory they once held in Syria and neighboring Iraq, but still maintain a presence in remote areas along the border.

Both Russia and Iran have provided crucial military support to Assad's forces, giving them the upper hand in the civil war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Assad during a meeting last week that a political settlement in Syria should encourage foreign countries to withdraw their troops from Syria. Putin's envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, said the Russian leader was referring to Iranian forces.

But on Monday, Tehran appeared to reject that idea, saying its forces will remain in Syria and continue fighting "terrorism" at the request of the Syrian government.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters Monday that no one can force Tehran to do anything it doesn't desire to do. "Our presence in Syria has been based on a request by the Syrian government and Iran will continue its support as long as the Syrian government wants," he said. </s> Syrian government forces continue to launch air raids and artillery fire on parts of the capital's outskirts in an attempt to drive out remaining armed opposition groups, according to state media and war monitors.

Rebel-held pockets near Damascus have been witnessing intense shelling from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces since Thursday.

Some of the areas, including Hajar al-Aswad and Tadamun in the southern district of Damascus, have been under Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group's control since April 2015.

The areas comprise the majority of the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp, which lies about 8km from central Damascus.

ISIL fighters were given 48 hours to surrender and withdraw from the Yarmouk area on Thursday, pro-government Al-Watan daily reported.

Meanwhile, remaining rebel factions in nearby eastern Qalamoun have begun evacuating to rebel-held parts of the country, after agreeing on Friday to surrender under threat of military action by government forces.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that buses began evacuating "terrorists and their families" out of Qamaloun to Idlib province and Jarablus city at noon on Thursday.

Activist Hazem al-Shamy told Al Jazeera that fighters from rebel groups Jaish al-Islam and Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham remain in control of other pockets such as the towns of Yalda, Beilla, and al-Qadam - all of which lie south of the capital.

Al-Shamy and other activists say some 200 air attacks were launched since Thursday.

"All of those areas including Yarmouk are being shelled by Russian fighter jets," al-Shamy said.

According to Action Group for Palestinians in Syria, a London-based watchdog that documents human rights violations, at least four Palestinian refugees, including a member of Syria's Civil Defense, were killed in Saturday's attacks.

In total, at least six Palestinians lost their lives in the government-led raids that began two days ago, the group said.

Although most of the camp's residents fled to other parts of Syria or to neighbouring countries, the United Nations estimates thousands remain trapped inside as a result of an imposed siege that began in 2012, shortly after the Syrian war started.

ISIL currently controls about five percent of Syria, including pockets in Deir Az Zor, and have a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert.

Since 2015, the Syrian government has regained control of the majority of Syria, with opposition groups now restricted to the northern part of the country.

They have thus far managed to regain large swaths of land through a series of evacuation deals that come amid a military offensive, most recently in Eastern Ghouta, a major Damascus suburb that was once home to 400,000 people.
After months of fighting, Syrian government forces retake control of Tulul al-Safa in southern Syria from ISIL.