New Damascus operation against IS: 1 person arrested, weapons seized

Syrian authorities launched a new operation against the Islamic State (IS) group on Wednesday in the Dummar neighborhood in northwest Damascus, arresting an individual affiliated with the group and seizing various weapons.

The day before, they had killed the head of the cell behind Sunday’s attack on their security forces and arrested eight members of a cell affiliated with IS.

"Our security units, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate, carried out a targeted operation against a hideout belonging to the terrorist organization Da'esh [Arabic acronym for IS] in the Dummar neighborhood of Damascus, on the basis of reliable intelligence information and precise on-the-ground data," said Brig. Gen. Oussama Mohammad Khayr Atika, commander of the Damascus governorate’s internal security forces, in a message on the Interior Ministry’s Telegram channel, as reported by the state-run SANA agency.

The commander added that the operation resulted in the arrest "of an individual linked" to IS, as well as the "seizure of ready-to-use explosive devices, various weapons, ammunition, suicide drones and explosives used to equip these drones for attack purposes."

He concluded by stating "that this operation confirms the ability of security services to confront terrorist threats and to protect the security and stability of the country and its citizens."

The Syrian government announced Sunday that four members of the security forces had been killed and a fifth wounded in Idlib province in the country’s northwest, the day after another attack on a joint Syrian-American delegation in Palmyra, central Syria, which killed three Americans: two soldiers and an interpreter.

During Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington last November, Damascus joined the U.S.-led international anti-jihadist coalition.