BEIRUT — Pro-government forces and the Islamic State group noticed a transient ceasefire in southern Damascus Saturday, a monitor stated, after weeks of lethal preventing within the jihadists’ final stronghold within the Syrian capital.
The regime of President Bashar Assad final month launched a wide-scale offensive towards IS in Damascus’ Hajar al-Aswad district and the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp. Clashes have inflicted heavy losses on each side.
“A ceasefire came into effect at midday today, ostensibly for five hours,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman advised AFP late Saturday that the truce, which can be a prelude to the evacuation of IS fighters from the world, was nonetheless in impact.
He stated the ceasefire had been negotiated by regime ally Russia and pro-government Palestinian factions.
Syria’s state-run Sana information company nonetheless quoted an army source as denying the settlement.
Loyalist forces launched a ferocious assault in southern Damascus after capturing the Eastern Ghouta insurgent stronghold close to the capital in April.
They have already retaken the Qadam neighborhood, however the jihadists retain management of round 70 % of Yarmuk.
According to Observatory, preventing in southern Damascus has killed 484 IS members and greater than 250 pro-regime fighters in addition to 56 civilians.
Once a thriving district residence to some 160,000 Palestinians and Syrians, Yarmuk’s inhabitants has fallen to simply a few hundred folks.
Syria’s battle has left greater than 350,000 folks lifeless because it began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests, earlier than spiraling into a complicated battle involving world powers and jihadists.