The Russian military police have discovered an arms cache belonging to militants from the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) in the Yarmouk refugee camp near Syria's Damascus, an official from the military police said
YARMOUK CAMP (Syria) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 08th April, 2019) The Russian military police have discovered an arms cache belonging to militants from the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) in the Yarmouk refugee camp near Syria's Damascus, an official from the military police said.
"A local resident contacted [the Russian military police] during our patrol in the ruins of the Yarmouk camp, saying that [he found] weapons and ammunition left by Islamic State militants in the tunnel under a house. We together with law enforcers of the Syrian Arab Republic have examined the tunnel and the ammunition was seized," the official told reporters.
Homemade shells, mines, fougasses (improvised mortars), as well as a homemade rocket launcher, which militants made from metal sheets and pipes, were found in the cache.
Syrian sappers blew up the cache right in the tunnel, having previously checked the surrounding area for the presence of civilians and residential houses.
The tunnels dug by terrorists stretch for miles under Damascus. After the city's liberation, Syrian authorities decided to destroy them. In residential neighborhoods, the tunnels are filled in, while the ones in non-residential areas are blown up via controlled explosions.
The Yarmouk camp, which once hosted over 100,000 Palestinian refugees, was captured by various fraction throughout the Syrian conflict and, ultimately, the IS in 2015. Yarmouk was severely damaged in 2018 during the liberation of Damascus. Now the camp hosts about 100-200 people.
