The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) has been conducting field executions in al-Qadam district, an area south of Damascus that recently came under its control, activists told Diyaruna.

ISIS on Monday (March 19th) seized control of al-Qadam district, a southern suburb of Damascus to the west of Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, inflicting heavy losses on Syrian regime forces who had deployed in the area.

ISIS has thus been able to link its main area of control in al-Hajar al-Aswad with al-Qadam district, activist and Yarmouk resident Bahaa al-Sahli told Diyaruna.

Al-Qadam district had previously been under the control of the rival Tahrir al-Sham alliance, whose elements withdrew towards Idlib province last week after reaching an agreement with the Syrian regime.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave an initial toll on Tuesday of 36 pro-regime fighters dead in the battle for al-Qadam, but said additional bodies had been retrieved since, AFP reported.

"The toll has risen to 62, most of them local pro-regime fighters," the Observatory said.

"Regime reinforcements have gathered on the outskirts of al-Qadam, but the operation to recapture it has not yet started," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

ISIS elements have been emptying houses in and around al-Qadam of their contents, after the occupants fled amid the ongoing fighting, al-Sahli said.

They have been prohibiting anyone from entering the area, he added, even if they own a house there.

Damascus-area executions

According to al-Sahli, ISIS elements executed two people in the public square in al-Qadam after detaining them in the district and accusing them of "apostasy", the charge it pins on anyone who opposes the group or its ideology.

The Observatory confirmed the incident on Tuesday (March 20th).

The group forced residents to assemble in the public square to watch the execution, which was carried out after an ISIS official read the death sentence.

The proceeding was similar to the one the group usually conducts, with the men who were to be executed by gunfire wearing orange uniforms, al-Sahli said.

"The executions were an attempt to suppress local residents and prevent them from objecting to the group's presence in the area," he added.

ISIS also conducted two executions in southern Damascus on February 4th, shooting and beheading the men on different charges, the Observatory said.

One youth was executed with a gunshot to his head on charges of "joining the faction of Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis" which had fought ISIS in the Yarmouk area.

The other was beheaded on charges of spying for the regime.