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.



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.