Date: Apr 25, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Homs will be next: Syrian minister DAMASCUS: The Syrian government plans to recover an opposition-held pocket north of Homs city soon after it completes surrender deals with armed groups around the capital Damascus, a Syrian government minister said Tuesday. Having taken back the largest rebel-held area near Damascus, Eastern Ghouta, in early April, the Syrian army and allied forces are close to recovering the remaining few pockets around the capital. Pro-government forces are bombarding an enclave in south Damascus where Daesh (ISIS) holds a pocket next to one held by rebel factions. In recent days rebels in two other enclaves northeast of Damascus, Dumair and East Qalamoun, surrendered and agreed to be transferred by bus to opposition territory in northern Syria. The Syrian army and its allies have for years employed siege and bombardment tactics to force rebels to surrender their enclaves and agree to be transferred to opposition territory in northern Syria. Ali Haidar, the Syrian minister responsible for national reconciliation, told Reuters in an interview the government would focus on recovering an opposition-held pocket north of the city of Homs after securing the areas around Damascus. “The issue will not be a long time coming after the final resolution in Qalamoun,” Haidar said. Haidar said the government had for a while been dropping leaflets and communicating with rebels in the opposition-held towns of Rastan, Talbiseh and Houleh in northern Homs province. “Today there is serious work in that area,” he said. “Armed groups wait to feel the seriousness and determination of the state’s military action before they approach serious discussion of a reconciliation agreement.” Haidar said such reconciliation deals are also on offer to rebels in southern Syria, where a de-escalation zone was agreed by the United States and Russia last year. “The options are open: full reconciliation or military action where necessary,” he said But he indicated that retaking areas around Damascus and Homs – the last rebel areas entirely besieged by the government – were the immediate priorities. Rebels had refused to surrender in the south Damascus enclave, which includes the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, Al-Hajar al-Aswad district and neighboring areas. The Syrian government Tuesday launched a new operation targeting tunnels used by Daesh in the capital, state television reported, while shelling by the militants on a government-held neighborhood left at least four dead. The state TV report said the aim of the operation is to destroy trenches and tunnels in Al-Hajar al-Aswad and the nearby Yarmouk camp, which is also mostly controlled by the extremists. Daesh militants in Al-Hajar al-Aswad fired a shell on the nearby government-held neighborhood of Nahr Aisha, killing four people and wounding 15, state TV said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the shelling killed five and wounded 17. A group of journalists taken to the adjacent neighborhood of Qadam Tuesday witnessed intense shelling and airstrikes on Daesh positions in the camp and Al-Hajar al-Aswad. The crackle of gunfire echoed from the heavily damaged area. “The operation will continue until its goal is achieved,” a Syrian military officer told reporters in Qadam, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations. He said the army is also working on separating Daesh-held areas in Al-Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk from the nearby rebel-held suburbs of Beit Sahm, Babila and Yalda. Tuesday’s fighting focused on the Joura area in Al-Hajar al-Aswad, from where thick smoke rose up into the sky. The observatory said since the fighting began Thursday, 15 troops and pro-government gunmen and 19 Daesh militants have been killed. It said dozens were wounded on both sides. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said in a statement that it is deeply concerned for the fate of thousands of civilians, including Palestinian refugees, after days of fighting in Yarmouk, a builtup residential area. UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said the agency estimates there were about 6,000 Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk and about 6,000 in the surrounding areas before the latest round of fighting began Thursday. “The humanitarian situation has long been very harsh and is rapidly deteriorating further, with supplies of food and medicine running low,” Krahenbuhl said. “There is no running water and very little electricity. Health care options are limited and there are no doctors remaining in the area.” He said UNRWA is prepared to open temporary shelters and provide relief and humanitarian assistance.