Hundreds of Syrian opposition fighters left an area south of Damascus on Thursday (May 10th), leaving the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) as the only armed group that is not allied with the regime in the area, AFP reported.
Fifteen buses carrying fighters and their relatives left the towns of Yalda, Babila, and Beit Saham on the southern edge of Damascus, headed for northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In all, the Observatory said, 8,400 people have been evacuated from the three towns since a deal was reached one week ago for the negotiated withdrawals.
"For the first time since 2011, there are no opposition fighters in or around Damascus except ISIS," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
ISIS still controls a pocket of territory inside the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp and adjacent al-Hajar al-Aswad, both inside Damascus.
Regime forces have been pressing a weeks-long assault against the group there and continued to carry out airstrikes in that area on Thursday.
