Part of the Syrian armed opposition has pledged allegiance to ISIL and helped them to enter Yarmouk.
A skirmish between ISIL, al-Nusra and Palestinian faction Akhnaf Beit al-Maqdis is currently taking place there.
Yarmuk used to be a home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria before it had been caught up in the fighting for over a year and most of the residents fled.
A camp resident told Sputnik that civilians were in panic as bullets were flying in the streets of Yarmuk.
The delivery of humanitarian aid from the Syrian government, UNRWA and "Red Crescent" to Yarmuk has been interrupted as the al-Nusra militants used to fire at the humanitarian convoys.
"Fighters from IS [ISIL] launched an assault this morning on Yarmouk and they took over the majority of the camp," Anwar Abdel Hadi, director of political affairs for the Palestine Liberation Organization in Damascus, said.
In 2014, the Islamic State took large territories in Iraq and Syria and established a caliphate. Affiliated groups operate in North Africa, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. ISIL recruits fighters from around the world.
[sputniknews.com]
1/4/15
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Islamic State takes 90 percent of Damascus refugee camp: monitor...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Islamic State has taken control of 90 percent 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 kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.
The United Nations has said it is extremely concerned about the safety and protection of Syrians and Palestinians in the camp. Civilians trapped there have long suffered a government siege that has led to starvation and disease.
"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.............http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/04/us-mideast-crisis-syria-yarmouk-idUSKBN0MV08520150404?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
4/4/15