Regime secures capital, suburb

Syria's army said yesterday it was in full control of the capital Damascus and its outskirts after ousting the Islamic State group, marking a major milestone in the seven-year war.

"The Syrian army announces today that Damascus, its outskirts and surrounding towns are completely secure," it said in a statement carried on official media.

The development came after troops had captured a key southern portion of Damascus from IS, the statement said, including the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk and the adjacent district of Hajar al-Aswad.

"The wheel of our progress on the battlefield will not stop until all Syrian land is purified," it added.

Syria's war erupted in 2011 with protests against President Bashar al-Assad, including in the capital.

The following year, the government began losing control of parts of Damascus and placed a crippling siege around Yarmuk, which lies in the capital's south.

The army's announcement came hours after a tenuous evacuation deal saw hundreds of IS fighters and their relatives quit Yarmuk, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The government has denied reaching a deal with IS. It said a brief ceasefire had allowed one convoy of women and children to leave the pocket in southern Damascus.

The war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said yesterday that buses had already started leaving south Damascus for Islamic State areas in eastern Syria.