Official: Militant pullout on hold from Yarmouk in Damascus

BEIRUT — An official says the agreed-on pullout of a few thousand Syrian militants, including Islamic State fighters, and their families from a neighborhood on the southern edge of Damascus has been put on hold.

The Yarmouk neighborhood is home to a Palestinian refugee camp and has been hotly contested and fought over in the Syrian conflict.

The Islamic State group seized large parts of Yarmouk earlier this year.

Anwar Abdulhadi, a Palestinian official in Damascus, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the withdrawal of the mainly Islamic State militants from Yarmouk is being delayed for "logistical reasons."

Other unconfirmed reports say the assassination of top rebel commander Zahran Alloush near Damascus on Friday night has torpedoed the deal to evacuate the fighters.

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