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IS works with al-Qaeda to seize most of Palestinian camp of Yarmouk in Damascus - The Hindu
Updated: April 4, 2015 19:35 IST
This picture taken on Jan. 31, 2014, shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria.
The United Nations says around 18,000 civilians are trapped in Yarmouk, including a large number of children.
Civilians trapped in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria’s capital fled to safer areas on Saturday amid intense shelling and clashes between Palestinian armed factions and the Islamic State militants who took over most of the camp, Syrian activists said.
A Damascus-based Palestinian official, Khaled Abdul-Majid, said the militants controlled about half of the Yarmouk camp, located on the edge of the Syrian capital.
Islamic State militants stormed the camp in southern Damascus on Wednesday, marking the extremist group’s deepest foray yet into the capital. Palestinian officials and Syrian activists said they were working with rivals from the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front. The two groups have fought bloody battles against each other in other parts of Syria, but appear to be cooperating in the attack on Yarmouk.
The United Nations says around 18,000 civilians are trapped in Yarmouk, including a large number of children. The camp has been under government siege for nearly two years and has witnessed several rounds of ferocious and deadly fighting between government forces and militants.
U.N. aid workers have been sending food parcels into the camp in an effort to alleviate the extreme suffering inside.
An activist based in an area just south of Damascus, Hatem al-Dimashqi, said on Saturday that rebel groups have launched a counteroffensive aimed at ousting the militants from the camp. He said a number of factions based inside the camp and in surrounding areas including Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham formed a joint operations command to coordinate their military action.
Al-Dimashqi, speaking from the edge of Yalda, said mosques in those areas were blaring calls for blood donations as hospitals received wounded civilians from Yarmouk.
In addition to the ground clashes, Syrian forces were shelling the camp. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a Syrian government airstrike on Yarmouk, but said there was no immediate word on casualties.
'Islamic State controls 90 per cent of Palestinian refugee camp' - The Hindu
Islamic State has taken control of 90 per cent of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control, a monitoring group said on Saturday.
The hardline group's offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital. Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now only a few kilometres from President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.
"The situation in Yarmouk is an affront to the humanity of all of us, a source of universal shame," U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said.
"Yarmouk is a test, a challenge for the international community. We must not fail. The credibility of the international system itself is at stake," he said.
The Islamic State on Wednesday launched an attack on other groups of fighters in Yarmouk, in particular Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, an anti-Assad militia of Syrians and Palestinians from the camp.
Islamic State supporters posted photos on social media of the severed heads of two men they said had been beheaded after fighting for Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said Islamic State and al-Qaeda's official Syria wing, the Nusra Front, made gains overnight, pushing into the northeast of the district, close to central Damascus. They now control 90 per cent of the camp, it said.
Updated: April 4, 2015 19:35 IST
This picture taken on Jan. 31, 2014, shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria.
The United Nations says around 18,000 civilians are trapped in Yarmouk, including a large number of children.
Civilians trapped in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria’s capital fled to safer areas on Saturday amid intense shelling and clashes between Palestinian armed factions and the Islamic State militants who took over most of the camp, Syrian activists said.
A Damascus-based Palestinian official, Khaled Abdul-Majid, said the militants controlled about half of the Yarmouk camp, located on the edge of the Syrian capital.
Islamic State militants stormed the camp in southern Damascus on Wednesday, marking the extremist group’s deepest foray yet into the capital. Palestinian officials and Syrian activists said they were working with rivals from the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front. The two groups have fought bloody battles against each other in other parts of Syria, but appear to be cooperating in the attack on Yarmouk.
The United Nations says around 18,000 civilians are trapped in Yarmouk, including a large number of children. The camp has been under government siege for nearly two years and has witnessed several rounds of ferocious and deadly fighting between government forces and militants.
U.N. aid workers have been sending food parcels into the camp in an effort to alleviate the extreme suffering inside.
An activist based in an area just south of Damascus, Hatem al-Dimashqi, said on Saturday that rebel groups have launched a counteroffensive aimed at ousting the militants from the camp. He said a number of factions based inside the camp and in surrounding areas including Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham formed a joint operations command to coordinate their military action.
Al-Dimashqi, speaking from the edge of Yalda, said mosques in those areas were blaring calls for blood donations as hospitals received wounded civilians from Yarmouk.
In addition to the ground clashes, Syrian forces were shelling the camp. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a Syrian government airstrike on Yarmouk, but said there was no immediate word on casualties.
'Islamic State controls 90 per cent of Palestinian refugee camp' - The Hindu
Islamic State has taken control of 90 per cent of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control, a monitoring group said on Saturday.
The hardline group's offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital. Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now only a few kilometres from President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.
"The situation in Yarmouk is an affront to the humanity of all of us, a source of universal shame," U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said.
"Yarmouk is a test, a challenge for the international community. We must not fail. The credibility of the international system itself is at stake," he said.
The Islamic State on Wednesday launched an attack on other groups of fighters in Yarmouk, in particular Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, an anti-Assad militia of Syrians and Palestinians from the camp.
Islamic State supporters posted photos on social media of the severed heads of two men they said had been beheaded after fighting for Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said Islamic State and al-Qaeda's official Syria wing, the Nusra Front, made gains overnight, pushing into the northeast of the district, close to central Damascus. They now control 90 per cent of the camp, it said.
