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Government forces are advancing inside the ISIS-held area in southern Damascus. By May 5, the Syrian Arab Army, the National Defense Forces and other pro-government factions had captured a notable part of the al-Hajar al-Aswad district and had peneterated ISIS’ defense in the northern and western parts of the Yarmouk refugee camp.
ISIS has carried out attacks on the advancing government troops destroying a few pieces of the military equipment belonging to the army, according to Amaq. However, this was not enough to stop the government advance.
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At the same time, the evacuation process is ongoing in the eastern part of the southern Damascus pocket. On May 4, a second batch of non-ISIS militants and their families left the area towards northern Syria under the evacuation deal reached with the government. On May 5, a new batch of militants and their families are set to leave the area.
Syrian forces have already started working to secure the areas abandoned by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Jaish al-Islam and their allies.
Summing up the recent developments, pro-government experts expect that the Syrian Army and other pro-government factions will be able to re-establish a full control of the southern Damascus countryside in about a week. However, even if this takes more time, this result is inevitable.
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