Syria police deploy in south Damascus after Daesh defeat

DAMASCUS: Syrian police deployed across devastated districts in southern Damascus on Tuesday a day after the army liberated the area from the Daesh terror group.

The government on Monday liberated the Yarmuk Palestinian camp and adjacent neighborhoods of Tadamun and Hajjar Al-Aswad, putting Damascus fully under its control for the first time since 2012.

On Tuesday, police units entered Yarmuk and Hajjar Al-Aswad and planted the two-star Syrian flag there, according to the repports broadcast on the state television.

TV broadcast images of security forces atop a pockmarked multi-story building in Yarmuk where they had hung the national flag.

Other police officers gathered in the ravaged streets below and fired in the air in celebration.

"The police are present round-the-clock," said one officer interviewed on the state broadcaster.

"Special units are deployed across the camp to help any civilians and protect their belongings," he said.

It also showed footage from Hajjar Al-Aswad of a convoy of police cars and motorcycles making its way through dusty streets lined with crumbling buildings.

Yarmuk, Hajjar Al-Aswad and the nearby district of Tadamun all lie in a southern pocket of Damascus that had remained under rebel control for several years.

The government began losing its grip on parts of the capital in 2012, just one year after rebels, backed by the US and allies, emerged from neihhbouring areas.

Syrian army made a comeback this year, with government using a mix of military pressure and evacuation deals to flush rebels and militants out of Damascus and its outskirts.

Syrian army and allied Palestinian fighters turned their sights on Yarmuk and the other Daesh-held parts of the capital last month.

Daesh overran Yarmuk in 2015, but the massive Palestinian camp had already been ravaged by years of rebel infighting and government attacks.

Syria's army announced it had seized Yarmuk from Daesh on Monday.