Syrian regime forces Friday advanced against Daesh (ISIS) militants in the south of Damascus, state media said, after more than a week of bombardment on the area.
“Army units backed by the air force and artillery have advanced on numerous axes” in southern Damascus, including the district of Hajar al-Aswad, “after breaking through terrorist defenses”, state news agency SANA said.
The advance “inflicted great human and material losses” on the militants, it said.
Syrian state television said the army was advancing towards Route 30 in Hajar al-Aswad.
Regime forces have pounded southern districts of Damascus since April 19, after Daesh refused an evacuation deal for the region.
The areas under regime fire include the neighborhoods of Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam as well as the adjacent Palestinian camp of Yarmouk.
Daesh has held parts of Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk since 2015 and seized Qadam last month.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-government forces took control of “buildings and streets in Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam after attacking the districts at dawn”.
Regime forces were locked in violent clashes with Daesh fighters on Friday morning, the Britain-based monitor said.
Heavy air strikes and shelling had targeted Yarmouk and the edges of Hajjar al-Aswad and Qadam since the early morning.
At least 74 regime personnel and 59 Daesh fighters have been killed in eight days of fighting, the monitor said.
In that same period, at least 19 civilians have also been killed in regime bombardment of the area including in Yarmouk, it said.
Yarmouk and the surroundings are now Daesh’s largest urban redoubt in Syria or neighboring Iraq.