The Niagara Falls Review

Syria monitors: IS militants seize Damascus neighbourh­ood

- PHILIP ISSA

BEIRUT — The Syrian government sent reinforcem­ents to a southern neighbourh­ood in Damascus after losing it to Islamic State militants after days of fighting that killed dozens of soldiers and pro-government militiamen, a monitoring group said.

IS militants late on Monday captured Damascus’ Qadam neighbourh­ood, which had been largely left vacant as the government’s month-long campaign to retake the city’s eastern Ghouta suburbs from the rebels had drawn significan­t firepower and resources to that front.

At least 36 soldiers and progovernm­ent militiamen were killed in clashes over Qadam, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observator­y for Human Rights, which also reported the government reinforcem­ents.

In eastern Ghouta, rescue workers were still retrieving bodies on Tuesday from the basement of a school that was bombed by government or Russian jets on Monday, a spokesman for the Syrian Civil Defence group said.

The bodies of 20 women and children have been retrieved from the rubble, said the group, also known as the White Helmets. The school, in Arbin, a town in eastern Ghouta, was being used as a shelter by residents, said the Observator­y.

Oways al-Shami said continued bombing was slowing down rescue operations.

“They’re not able to use their heavy vehicles because the planes are targeting the Civil Defence directly,” said al-Shami, a spokesman for the group, said of the rescuers.

The New York-based Physicians for Human Rights monitoring group has documented numerous government and Russian attacks on hospitals and paramedica­l services throughout Syria’s seven-year civil war. Residents in another Ghouta town, Douma, also reported indiscrimi­nate shelling and airstrikes.

“I haven’t been able to go out to look for food since yesterday,” said Ahmad Khansour, a media activist who spoke to The Associated Press from a basement in the town. He reported 175 strikes on the town since Monday evening.

The government offensive on eastern Ghouta has driven 45,000 residents from their homes, according to the latest figures from the U.N.’s refugee agency. Spokesman Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that UNHCR is not involved in the evacuation into government­controlled areas near Damascus, though its teams have been at “makeshift collective shelters.”

He said thousands of people were “still trapped by fierce fighting and in dire need of aid,” and a shortage of shelters was “a major concern.”

With Qadam, the IS group has expanded its footprint in the southern corners of the Syrian capital, after holding the nearby Hajr al-Aswad neighbourh­ood and Yarmouk Palestinia­n camp for years. The militants circulated a statement on Twitter saying they took Qadam.

Qadam was held by rebels until they surrendere­d the neighbourh­ood to the government one week ago following a protracted siege.

 ?? THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Civil Defense workers putting out a fire following airstrikes and shelling in Douma, in the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Civil Defense workers putting out a fire following airstrikes and shelling in Douma, in the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.

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