Fighting Rages as IS Storms Yarmuk Palestinian Camp in Damascus

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Clashes between armed factions and the Islamic State group raged in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus after IS seized much of the Palestinian haven Wednesday in a lightning assault.

"Fighters from IS launched an assault this morning on Yarmuk and they took over the majority of the camp," said Anwar Abdel Hadi, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s political affairs director in Damascus.

"They reached the Palestinian hospital and 15th Street, which are in the center of the camp," he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS took control of a "large part" of Yarmuk during fighting with Palestinian groups also opposed to President Bashar Assad's regime.

According to the Observatory, the jihadists had infiltrated the camp from the rebel-held town of Hajar al-Aswad.

But by Wednesday evening, an armed group loyal to Palestinian movement Hamas had regained control of some of these areas, the Britain-based monitoring group said. 

It said two people had been killed in the fighting.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it was "extremely concerned about the safety and protection of civilians" in Yarmuk and that some 3,500 children living there were in "extreme risk of death, serious injury, trauma, and displacement." 

Yarmuk, located only six kilometers (3.7 miles) from downtown Damascus, was once a thriving home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees and Syrians.

But it has been devastated by fighting and a tight blockade imposed by the army nearly two years ago that created dire humanitarian conditions.

The camp, covering an area of just two square kilometers (less than a square mile), has seen its population dwindle to only about 18,000.

Last year, it witnessed scenes of desperation as thousands of people crammed into devastated streets to queue for food distributed by UNRWA.

Rebel fighters had withdrawn from Yarmuk in February 2014 under a deal that left only Palestinian anti-regime groups inside.

The siege has caused significant shortages of food, water and drugs.

IS, which declared a self-styled "caliphate" last year over large parts of Syria and Iraq under its control, has fought against the Assad regime as well as other rebel groups as it seeks to gain territory.

An activist in Yarmuk said IS launched the attack after some of its members were detained following the murder there of a leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Monday.

- Fighting at Jordan crossing -

Elsewhere, a coalition of rebel fighters including Islamists attacked Syria's main border crossing with Jordan, known as the Nasib post, prompting the authorities in Amman to close it.

"Fierce fighting over the control of the Nasib border crossing with Jordan erupted early this morning between Islamists and rebels and regime forces, with the rebels putting the crossing under siege," said the Observatory.

The rebels had besieged the post and were being hit by barrel bombs and rocket fire from government forces.

Jordan's government said later that it had closed the crossing, leading to Syria's Daraa province, to both travelers and goods.

The closure was a "preventive measure to safeguard the lives and security of travelers due to the fighting underway on the other side of the border," Interior Minister Hussein Majali told AFP.

Rebels have been gaining territory in the southern province, cradle of the 2011 Arab Spring-inspired uprising against Assad that triggered the civil war.

Last week they seized full control of the ancient town of Bosra al-Sham, pushing pro-regime forces out after days of heavy fighting.

In January rebels -- including fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front -- seized an important government army base in the province.

In other developments Wednesday, the army captured a strategic position in the rebel-held town of Zabadani, northwest of Damascus on the road to Beirut.

More than 215,000 people have been killed and more than half of the country's population has been displaced since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011.

Comments 7
Default-user-icon 13407 (Guest) 01 April 2015, 16:43

And as soon as PLO head Mahmoud Abbas voiced his support for the Arab action Yemen here comes the bugaboo of ISIL in Syria. As President Bashar Assad says "with enemies like these who needs friend, releasing them from prison was a stroke of genius if I may say so myself".

Thumb galaxy 01 April 2015, 17:33

Earmark camp was completely besieged by hezbollah and Assad and not a fly can go in or out. Who let them in? Hezbollah maybe?

Thumb galaxy 01 April 2015, 17:34

Yarmouk Camp*

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 01 April 2015, 19:54

Galaxy - a very excellent point

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 01 April 2015, 19:53

Stupid comment

Missing imagine_1979 01 April 2015, 21:11

Just a question: for maore than 2 years food and watter could barelly enter hence people died of hanger even international redcross was rarelly able to access it...
How come IS could enter so easely? From where?....
Any idea?

Thumb Mrowwe 02 April 2015, 04:48

whyaskwhy and yarmuk ta7t shi jisr, ignorant people think the same about lebanese you know. In the eyes of the people of the world, it doesn't make a difference if you're lebanese or palestinian or syrian yet here you guys are posting such silly comments? If only you knew how silly you guys are with such thoughts. Wake up.