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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Islamic State Fighters Storm Besieged Palestinian Refugee Camp in Syria
2015-04-02
[NEWS.VICE] Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 fighters stormed the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus on Wednesday, continuing their push into regime-controlled parts of Syria and battling mostly local Paleostinian groups as they seized control of some sections of the besieged camp.

Before the conflict in Syria began, Yarmouk was home to 150,000 refugees, mostly third and fourth generation Paleostinians who fled or were forced out of their homeland in the 1940s when Israel was established. The camp became a battleground between Syrian rebel groups and regime forces after the civil war erupted, and its population has since plummeted to around 18,000. It has effectively been under siege since 2012, leaving the residents to starve to death as they were cut off from food, clean water, and other essentials.

The latest incursion, which took place as Syrian regime forces bombed the camp, was reported by both Paleostinian officials and Syrian activists, and confirmed to VICE News by a number of local sources.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that al Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, may have facilitated the bad boy offensive. Members of Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, a Paleostinian group loosely and unofficially affiliated with Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, pushed back against their advance.

"Daesh have been clashing with Akhnaf since the morning; most people remain hiding in their homes," an activist in the camp told VICE News, using an acronym that spells out the Islamic State's full Arabic name. "The situation is already terrible but there has also been a huge amount of shelling, probably from the regime, that has targeted a hospital and other civilian areas."
Ynet adds:
According to the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, the IS gunnies fighters entered the camp from the nearby neighborhood of Hajar Aswad. That southern Damascus neighborhood is controlled by turbans.
So the threat to Assad was already there, just the next neighborhood over.
The Yarmouk Camp has changed hands several times over the past four years. It was under Assad's control, moved to the hands of moderate Sunni rebels (that don't belong to Islamist organizations) and, at a certain point, was also captured by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
 organization.
Ah. This is a repeated threat by various unfriendly parties, and is growing tiresome. I vote for rubblizing the thing, thus removing the threat altogether.
phil_b submitted the BBC article on this story, which has a nice little map. See here and scroll down. He commented:
The camp is only about 5kms from the centre of Damascus. Otherwise, the report is the usual hand wringing about the poor paleos.
Posted by:Fred

#2  The rebels have made gains in the last week or 2. including around Homs. Reports say Assad didn't send re-inforcements, which means he is saving what reserves he has for a bigger battle.

Wouldn't surprise if they manage to cut the main north south highway, effectively isolating Damascus from the coast, which would leave Assad with a mini-lebanon around Latakia.
Posted by: phil_b   2015-04-02 01:30  

#1  He, he, he.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2015-04-02 01:29  

00:00