A general view shows buildings damaged in Deir al-Zor, eastern Syria, November 28, 2014.

Syrian activists and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group say the militants have seized a district previously held by Syrian troops in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

The industrial district of Deir el-Zour fell to the group late Wednesday following an attack and fierce clashes between the two sides.

The ISIS-affiliated Aamaq news agency said Thursday that the group began its attack on the district with three successive suicide operations that struck Syrian army outposts inside.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the ISIS capture of the district.

The city in the country’s east is held mostly by ISIS but Syrian troops control a few districts inside and the Deir el-Zour airport on the outskirts of the city.

Families of ISIS fighters to leave south Damascus in U.N. deal

Hundreds of families of ISIS militants and some injured fighters are expected to leave rebel-held areas in southern Damascus under a U.N.-brokered deal, a monitor said on Thursday.

Rami Abdulraham, head of the UK-based Observatory for Human Rights, said safe passage would be given from the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk on the outskirts of Damascus and neighboring Hajar al Aswad.

The families and some fighters will be taken to the ultra-hardline militant group’s stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria and other ISIS-controlled areas over several months, ultimately ending the group’s presence in areas near the Syrian capital.

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