In a rare deal between ISIS and the Syrian regime army in the embattled southern suburbs of Damascus, dozens of the radical group's fighters have left the southern suburb of Damascus with their cars, in an envoy heading towards an ISIS-held territory near the border with Iraq, sources told Zaman al Wasl on Monday.
In what seems a regime-sponsored deal between local rebels and the radical group, ISIS fighters have left al Hajar al-Aswad, a district next to the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp, after an almost two-year siege. The move will enable regime forces to have a non-ISIS zone south of the capital.
Most eastern and southern suburbs of Damascus have been under a suffocating siege, amid a lack of aid and subsidies, with many people being forced into a fragile truce with the regime, due to their living circumstances.
About 13.5 million people in Syria are currently in need of humanitarian assistance and some sort of protection – an increase of 1.2 million in just 10 months, the UN aid chief said recently.
Since it began in 2011, Syria's conflict has fractured into a complex array of fronts between Kurds, rebels, regime and jihadists, and has killed more than 250,000 people.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
