19 Syrian troops killed fighting IS near Damascus

Damascus: At least 19 Syrian government forces were killed fighting the Islamic State over the past 24 hours in an attempt to capture the last IS-held enclaves in the southern outskirts of Damascus, a Britain-based war monitor reported on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting had been taking place since Friday around the IS-controlled Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk and in the adjacent neighbourhoods of al-Hajar al-Aswad and al-Tadamon.

The war monitor, cited by EFE, claimed that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had managed to seize the majority of the al-Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhood, but IS militants counterattacked and pushed them back.

The fighting, which is still ongoing, was accompanied by bombings from warplanes and artillery against the IS positions.

According to the SOHR, since the start of the government offensive on April 19 to recapture IS-held territory south of Damascus, a total of 142 Syrian government soldiers have been killed, including six soldiers who were taken prisoner and then executed, while the IS lost 111 combatants.

The IS took control of Yarmouk camp in 2015, and the UN has said the thousands of civilians still living there remain "without access to adequate food, safe water, electricity or essential services".