Syrian state TV is reporting that government forces have launched a new operation targeting underground tunnels used by the Islamic State group in the capital, Damascus.

The TV says the aim of the operation is to destroy dug-out trenches and tunnels in the Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood and the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk that is also mostly controlled by IS.

A group of journalists taken on Tuesday to the adjacent neighborhood of Qadam witnessed intense shelling and airstrikes on IS positions in the camp and Hajar al-Aswad.

The area in southern Damascus is the last part of the capital not controlled by President Bashar Assad's forces. Other insurgents in the area, including an al-Qaida-linked group, have said they would relocate to rebel-held regions in northern Syria.

(AP­­­­­)­­

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday the United States had no intention to leave Syria despite Washington saying it had such plans, the RIA state news agency said.

Lavrov told reporters in Beijing he hoped it would become clearer how to cooperate on settling the Syrian issue after contacts with his counterparts from France.

Commenting on foreign ministers from Group of Seven leading industrialized nations who united on Monday to condemn Russia, Lavrov said they had an obvious “Russophobic rationale,” RIA added.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, stressed on Tuesday the latest territorial gains in the war by Damascus and its allies do not bring peace any closer in the country.

De Mistura spoke at an international donor conference on Syria hosted by the European Union in Brussels.

“We’re seeing in last few weeks, days... that military gains, territorial gains and military escalation does not bring a political solution, has not brought any change. On the contrary,” he told a joint news conference with the EU’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini.

Mogherini also said it was crucial to restart the U.N.-led talks to end the war that is now in its eight year.