Flag day as celebrations are held to herald power shift in Damascus

Pro-government supporters including members of the Revolutionary Youth Union, the youth organization of the Arab Socialist Baath Party, and regime forces attend a flag-raising ceremony at the entrance of the Hajar alaswad neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. The regime seized the Yarmuk Palestinian camp and adjacent neighbourhoods of Tadamun and Hajar al-aswad earlier in the week from the Islamic State group, putting Damascus fully under its control for the first time since 2012.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011 with protests against President Bashar al-assad. The conflict has left at least 350,000 people dead and displaced 11 million others.