This Article is From Apr 02, 2015

Islamic State Seizes Vast Damascus Refugee Camp

Islamic State Seizes Vast Damascus Refugee Camp

File Photo: Members of the Islamic State militant group.

Beirut:

Fighters proclaiming allegiance to Islamic State seized most of a vast camp for Palestinian refugees on the outskirts of Damascus on Wednesday, a bid to capture the group's first major foothold close to President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.

Islamic State fighters already control swathes of eastern Syria and northern Iraq and are facing an international campaign of air strikes led by the United States. Until now they did not have a major presence in the area around the capital, where insurgents have mainly been loyal to other groups.

The Yarmouk refugee camp, home to half a million Palestinians before the conflict began in 2011, has been held by anti-Assad insurgents and besieged by government troops since the early days of the war. It is a few kilometres from the heart of Damascus, which is still firmly in government hands.

Mirroring the way Islamic State has grown elsewhere in Syria, its fighters seized control of areas of the camp from other insurgents, helped by rebels from the rival al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front who switched sides, a political activist in the area said.

"They pushed from the Hajar Aswad area and Nusra fighters have joined them, they have pledged loyalty to Daesh (Islamic State)," the activist said, speaking via Skype.

Anwar Abdel Hadi, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative in Damascus, said: "(Islamic State) went into Yarmouk today. There are clashes between the militants at the moment."

The United Nations said it was extremely concerned about the safety and protection of Syrian and Palestinian civilians there. It estimates the population of Yarmouk at about 18,000, with most of its residents having long since fled.

Government officials could not be reached for comment.

Hassan Hassan, an analyst and author of a book about Islamic State, said the group had long wanted a foothold close to the capital but that it was unlikely to be able to storm the centre.

"The regime has established strong checkpoints and infrastructure to prevent forces from actually getting inside Damascus. But they are edging closer."

Islamic State has been trying to expand into western areas of Syria far away from its strongholds on the other side of the country, where it faces the U.S.-led air strikes.

Its fighters killed 45 people including entire families, burning some people to death, overnight on Monday in the government-held village of Mabouja in western Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the war.

Rivals

Most of the parts of Syria that are outside the hands of Assad's government are controlled either by Islamic State or by Nusra Front, al Qaeda's Syrian branch.

Nusra Front shares Islamic State's jihadist ideology but does not recognise its rival's declaration last year of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as "caliph", or ruler of all Muslims. It has been more powerful in Western Iraq while Islamic State spreads in the east.

Nusra Front asserted its own jihadist credentials on Thursday by declaring that Idlib, a northwestern provincial capital seized from government forces on Saturday by a coalition of militant groups, would now be ruled according to sharia law.

"We salute the people of Idlib and their stand with their sons, the Mujahideen, ... and God willing they will enjoy the justice of sharia, which will preserve their religion and their blood," Nusra Front leader Abu Mohamad al-Golani said in an audio recording posted online.

Idlib, around 30 km (20 miles) from the Turkish border is only the second provincial capital to slip from government hands after Raqqa in the east, which Islamic State has turned into its de facto capital.

The groups that seized Idlib have rejected a call by the internationally recognised Turkey-based opposition to headquarter an interim government there. The Observatory said insurgents were destroying cigarettes and tobacco, which many Islamists view as banned in Islam.

The news agency of the Vatican's missionary department reported on its website that a Greek Orthodox priest had been kidnapped by "jihadist militias" in Idlib.

Golani said Idlib residents would be treated well and public property would be protected. He urged employees of essential facilities including bakeries to go back to work and said an Islamic court should be set up to settle disputes.

Nusra Front's influence has been expanding in northwestern Syria. It has crushed at least two Western-backed rebel groups in recent months and seized weapons including U.S.-made anti-tank weapons from them.
Washington and its Arab allies oppose Assad but also hope to reduce the influence of Islamic State and Nusra Front by supporting what they describe as "moderate" rebel factions.

In the south, some of those groups, in an alliance known as the Southern Front, launched a major operation close to the Jordanian border, saying they were trying to take one of the last significant footholds of the government there.

Bashar al Zoubi, leader of the Yarmouk Army, one of the main groups fighting in the area, said "things are going very well" and that they hoped to take crossing by Thursday morning.

The southern region near the border with Jordan and Israel is one of the last footholds of western-backed rebel groups, fighting back against an offensive launched by Damascus to reclaim the border zone.

Clashes continued into the night around the border area as insurgents tried to seize the crossing from the army which was putting up resistance, fighters said. In the past Jordan has discouraged rebel groups from seizing the crossing.

"The target is to capture the last point of the regime on the border," Southern Front spokesman Issam al-Rayes said, estimating the overall number of fighters involved at 1,500.

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