Russian Military Police Starts Patrolling Urban Area of Damascus

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) - The Russian military police have started to patrol southern quarters of the Syrian capital, which were liberated from militants, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene on Sunday.

In order to ensure the security of the quarters, the pedestrian and motorized patrols are operating at all main streets, while the observation posts were also installed. The military police units are on duty around the clock. The exchange of information is well established with the population.

On Saturday, more than 3,200 militants and over 5,000 members of their families left the southern areas of Damascus, including the Yarmouk refugee camp. The withdrawal lasted for eight days and took place under the agreement with the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation.

A small part in southern Damascus is still controlled by the Daesh terrorist group. An anti-IS operation by the Syrian forces is underway.

Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and terrorist groups.

Russia began a military campaign in Syria in late September 2015 at the request of the Syrian President Bashar Assad to fight Daesh, resulting in the clearing out of more than 90 percent of Daesh-held territories and destroying reportedly of over 54,000 terrorists.