Syrian Observatory: Islamic State fighters leaving last Damascus enclave

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) BEIRUT, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a group of Islamic State fighters had been evacuated from the last insurgent enclave near Damascus on Sunday in a withdrawal that will restore state control over the area.

Syrian state media made no mention of a deal to allow the militants to leave the enclave centred around the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp. On Saturday, a Syrian military source denied that any agreement had been reached, state media said.

With the recovery of the Yarmouk enclave, the Syrian government will have crushed the last besieged rebel enclave in western Syria, though swathes of territory at the borders with Turkey, Iraq and Jordan remain outside its control.

The Observatory said buses had entered the enclave after midnight to take out fighters and their families. They had departed in the direction of the Syrian badia, a sparsely populated area to east of the capital.

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