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 (April 4).
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 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 tostarvation and disease.
Christopher Gunness, spokesperson for UNRWA and director of strategic communication and advocacy, said international help was key to protect civilians in the camp and demanded a unified reaction from international forces.
“The latest information we have suggests that the camp is in an absolutely dire situation. People are trapped in their battered homes, there are aerial bombardments, there is street-to-street fighting that has intensified. Women, children, civilians of all sorts are in danger of being killed, of being maimed, of being injured, which is why we are calling on all parties to respect their obligations to respect international law to protect civilians,” he told Reuters.
“Yarmouk has been the result of political failure, and those political failures are the result of disunity. Disunity in the security council, disunity in all sorts of places. What we now need is unified political action. We need political differences by the main powers in the world to be put aside. They need to come together to save lives because the credibility of the international system is at risk. Yarmouk is a challenge to all of us, to the international system in particular and the international system must not fail. It must not let down the people of Yarmouk and beyond,” he added.
The Islamic State on Wednesday (April 1) launched an attack on other groups of fighters in Yarmouk, in particular Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, ananti-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 AknafBeit al-Maqdis.
Tayseer Abu Baker, head of the Palestinian Liberation Front in Syria, part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters over the phone that Islamic State had killed 21 people including fighters and civilians since Friday.
Reuters cannot independently verify reports in Syria due to security and reporting restrictions.
Islamic State rules swathes of eastern Syria and Iraq and is the target of a U.S.-led campaign of air strikes.
Yarmouk was home to half a million Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011. The war has killed 220,000 people and displaced millions.
Reuters
