Syria army ejects Daesh from southern district

DESPITE BEING LARGELY DEFEATED MILITANTS STILL HAVE HIDEOUTS

Syrian government forces and their allies have captured a southern district from Daesh. The development comes after weeks of fighting that left scores dead on both sides.

The government-linked Syrian Central Military Media says the army took Tulul Al Safa region yesterday, ending the presence of the extremists in the country’s south.

Despite being mostly defeated in Syria and Iraq over the past two years, Daesh still has hideouts from where they launch attacks.

With the capture of Tulul Al Safa, a rugged mountainous region east of the Sweida province, Syrian troops now control wide parts of the country’s south.

The militant group, which lost most of its territory in Syria last year, rampaged through Sweida city in July from the desert areas east of the city, killing more than 200 people and detonating suicide vests.

The militants are believed to have fled to other areas to the west, including the towns of Al Hasa and Al Rahba, with many also melting into the vast sparsely populated eastern desert region, a former rebel source familiar with the area said.

Further northeast, the USled coalition was waging air strikes on the town of Hajin in the last remaining Daesh-held pocket in Syria near the border with Iraq.

Daesh, under the leadership of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, first surfaced in Iraq in 2014 where it rapidly expanded into Syria, making Raqqa its de fact capital before being defeated.