Local media reported on Monday that “security and stability” have been restored in Dukhaniyeh and its surroundings after militants were pushed out of the region.

State television broadcast live images from the strategic area and the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the withdrawal of the militants from the region.

Syrian forces launched an operation to flush militants out of Dukhaniyeh after it was captured by foreign-backed militants in September.

Terrorist groups reportedly used the area to launch mortar attacks on the Old City of Damascus and Jaramana district outside the capital.

An unnamed security source said the Syrian government troops can now “tighten the noose on terrorist groups in Ain Tarma and Jobar,” two other militant-held areas located in the eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.

“The operation in Ghouta will continue until it is completely cleared of any terrorist presence,” the source added.

In recent months, Syrian forces have managed to retake several militant-held areas around the capital.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. Western powers and their regional allies – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – are reportedly supporting the militants operating in Syria.

More than 191,000 people have been killed in over three years of fighting in the war-ravaged country, says the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), calling the figure a probable “underestimate of the real total number of people killed.”