BEIRUT: Three dozen pro-government fighters were killed in a district of Syria’s capital as the militant Islamic State (IS) group took control of it in a surprise night-time attack, a monitor said on Tuesday.

There was no immediate comment from the government on the report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which could not provide casualty figures for the militants.

“IS took full control of Qadam, and 36 government troops and loyalist fighters have been killed,” the Britain-based monitoring group said.

Dozens more were wounded or captured, or are still missing in action, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

IS launched the attack from positions it holds in the adjacent Hajar al-Aswad district, Abdel Rahman said.

“Regime forces are bringing reinforcements to the area around Qadam to try to retake it,” he said.

Qadam lies in a southern part of Damascus and has for several years hosted a range of rebels and extremists, including IS and its arch-enemy, Al Qaeda’s one-time Syrian branch Hayat Tahrir al-Sham).

Meanwhile, the Syrian regime and allied forces continued their advance to suppress the last pockets of resistance in and around Damascus, while the beleaguered Kurds in the north braced for further Turkish advances.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2018