Syrian Regime Forces Expel ISIS From Hajar Al-Aswad Region

Destruction in Syria. (AFP)
Destruction in Syria. (AFP)
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Syrian Regime Forces Expel ISIS From Hajar Al-Aswad Region

Destruction in Syria. (AFP)
Destruction in Syria. (AFP)

Syrian regime forces retook on Tuesday a neighborhood south of Damascus from ISIS, slicing off yet another part of the extremists’ holdout, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Since April 19, the Bashar Assad regime has waged a fierce air and ground assault against the final ISIS-held pocket of the capital.

“The Syrian regime has seized control of the entire district of Hajar al-Aswad,” Observatory Director Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP.

Fighting for Hajar al-Aswad had been particularly bloody, he added.

Regime forces were able to capture the Kadam neighborhood, but the fierce fighting aimed at controlling Hajar al-Aswad was very difficult.

ISIS has been controlling the Yarmouk refugee camp south of the Syrian capital, as well as parts of the al-Tadamon neighborhood, since 2015.

The expulsion of ISIS from those neighborhoods will allow the army to extend its control over the entire capital for the first time since 2012.

Since the assault began in April, 221 pro-regime fighters and 189 ISIS militants have been killed - nearly half of them in Hajar al-Aswad alone.

“If the regime continues to advance on the ground, ISIS will be surrounded and will be forced to negotiate an evacuation deal,” Abdul Rahman said. Such deals have allowed the regime to recapture swathes of territory across Syria.

Around 160,000 Palestinian refugees, as well as Syrians, once lived in Yarmouk. Just a few hundred people remain there now.

Due to the large losses in 2017, ISIS now controls only few pockets that do not exceed five percent of Syria’s area, including limited areas in the Syrian Badia and Deir Ezzor east and south of the country.



At Least 34 People Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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At Least 34 People Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

At least 34 people were killed across Gaza by Israeli strikes, health staff say, as Palestinians face a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ceasefire prospects inch closer.

The strikes began late Friday and continued into Saturday morning, among others killing 12 people at the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more living in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought. Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital, The Associated Press reported.

The strikes come as US President Donald Trump says there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office Friday, the president said, “we’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”

An official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza's ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Talks have been on again off again since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the Strip's dire humanitarian crisis. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to still be alive. They were part of some 250 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the 21-month-long war.

The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children.

There is hope among hostage families that Trump’s involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose.

Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says he will only end the war once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected.

Meanwhile hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May.

Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys.

Palestinians have also been shot and wounded while on their way to get food at newly formed aid sites, run by the American and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's health officials and witnesses.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel’s military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.