A Syrian officer walks in the largely destroyed Hajar al-Aswad district, south of Damascus, Syria, on May 22, 2018, a day after it was declared free of the Islamic State (IS) militants. For the first time in seven years, Syria's capital Damascus was declared secure and empty of any rebel presence on Monday, following the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) in their last strongholds south of the capital, an achievement that closed the last chapter of the war in the Syrian capital. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)