“Employees” of the “internal security department” formed by the new Syrian authorities carried out an operation in the province of Damascus and detained Islamic State militants. This was reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Arab Republic on its Telegram channel.

According to the ministry, weapons and ammunition were found among the terrorists, as well as explosive devices that the militants planned to use “to destabilize the situation in the region.”

Meanwhile, local sources report that protests have begun in the village of Zakiya in the Damascus countryside after several local residents were arrested by the new regime on charges of belonging to IS. The town's residents categorically deny that those arrested are terrorists and claim that they were arms dealers who were “labelled as IS militants” to please the US.