Syrian regime offensive targets IS tunnels, trenches in Damascus

Syrian regime forces launched a new operation targeting underground tunnels used by the Islamic State group in Damascus, according to Syrian state TV. 

SANA news agency said the operation is aimed at destroying dug-out trenches and tunnels in the Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood and the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk that is mostly under IS control. 

A group of journalists taken on Tuesday to the adjacent neighbourhood of Qadam witnessed intense shelling and airstrikes on IS positions in the camp and Hajar al-Aswad, Associated Press reported.

Both the Damascus neighbourhood and the nearby Yarmouk camp are the last parts of the capital not under President Bashar al-Assad's control.

Once a thriving district home to some 160,000 Syrians and Palestinians, Yarmouk has been devastated by more than five years of clashes and a crippling government siege.

Thousands have fled over the years as the humanitarian situation has grown more dire.

IS overran most of Yarmouk in 2015 and al-Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate maintained a small presence there until it withdrew a few weeks ago.

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This month, the regime recaptured the formerly rebel-held Damascus enclave of Eastern Ghouta after airstrikes followed a ground offensive. The Syrian regime also reportedly used chemical weapons against civilians in Douma, Eastern Ghouta's largest town.

US President Donald Trump ordered strikes against against three chemical weapons facilities in Homs, Syria on April 13, saying he held Assad personally responsible for reports of a chemical attack on April 7 that left at least 49 dead.

France and Britain joined the US in launching more than 100 missiles.

The Syrian regime has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons in Syria's now-seven-year-long war. However, a 2018 Human Rights Watch report found the regime responsible for the vast majority of 85 documented chemical weapons attacks between 2013 and 2018.

At least 170,000 civilians, including rebel fighters from the Jaish al-Islam group, left Eastern Ghouta as part of evacuation agreements penned during Assad's offensive.

The enclave had been home to 400,000 before the regime's Eastern Ghouta offensive kicked off on February 18. 

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