No deals for remaining Daesh terrorists in southern Damascus: Syrian minister Ali Haidar

A picture taken during a government guided tour shows Syrian government forces advancing on the outskirts of Damascus' southern al-Qadam neighborhood on April 24, 2018.(Photo by AFP)

A Syrian minister has said remaining militants in southern Damascus will not be offered reconciliation deals by the government.

The Syrian minister in charge for national reconciliation, Ali Haidar, made the announcement on Tuesday, noting that the militants remaining in the Hajar al-Aswad area and Yarmouk were mostly comprised of Daesh Takfriri terrorists.

"The problem with the rebels in Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk is that they are mostly Daesh militants. So communication and reaching a final deal is not possible with an organization like Daesh," he said.

He added that Syrian military operations will continue in the region until the terrorists are eradicated.

"Military operation is what will determine the situation in Yarmouk," he added.

Haidar noted that the aerial bombardment of the said areas would be carried out via precision operations.

"The military operation is based on targeting a bank of militant sites and weapons stores. It is a bank of targets and not random bombardment. Hence the operation took a while and may continue for days, because it is a precise operation," he added.

Earlier, Syrian government troops, supported by Syrian Air Force fighter jets,  launched a new operation in the country’s southwestern province of Rif Dimashq, targeting underground tunnels and fortified positions used by Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

On Sunday, militants and families were still being evacuated from Eastern Qalamoun to Syria’s northern regions.

As a result of a deal between the Syrian government and militant groups on the withdrawal of militants from the three localities, armed groups and their families have been evacuating Eastern Qalamoun since Saturday, after handing over their weapons and ammunition to the government troops.

On Friday, Syrian forces established full control over a town northeast of the capital, Damascus, after the militants controlling the area agreed to hand it back to the government.  

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The withdrawal of Jaish al-Islam militants and their families followed that of their fellows earlier this month from the town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus.

Dumayr is a short drive away from Douma, the last East Ghouta town the government managed to recapture from the militant groups.

The Syrian army on April 14 declared the liberation of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, after the last pockets of militants from the so-called Jaish al-Islam group and their families left the area.

A picture taken during a government guided tour near Damascus' southern al-Qadam neighborhood shows smoke rising from buildings in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp on the edge of the capital, and the surrounding areas, during government shelling targeting Daesh positions on April 24, 2018.  (Photo by AFP)

The militants and their relatives were fully evacuated to the militant-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria.

Earlier on Tuesday, the EU and UN kicked off a two-day conference in Brussels in an attempt to boost humanitarian aid for Syria from international donors, as the seven-year crisis continues to take its toll on millions of people in the country.

The war crisis has killed nearly half a million people inside Syria. Meanwhile, over 400,000 people are still trapped in different areas under siege.