Syrian government forces prepare to attack ISIL terrorists in control of refugee camp
Palestinians among troops sent to break the extremists’ grip on Yarmuk
Syrian government forces and allied militias have been gathering in an area of southern Damascus, ready to attack remnants of ISIL occupying a refugee camp, a war monitor said on Thursday.
For the past three years, ISIL fighters have controlled large parts of the Palestinian camp at Yarmuk and sections of the neighbouring districts of Hajar Al Aswad and Tadamun.
Last month, they overran the adjacent Qadam neighbourhood as Syrian troops fought rebels in Eastern Ghouta to the capital’s north-east.
“Since Sunday, reinforcements of regime forces and loyalist fighters – especially Palestinians – have been sent to the south of Damascus, in preparation for a military offensive to end the ISIL presence in the capital,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“Palestinian fighters will be at the forefront of any military advance on the Yarmuk camp,” said the head of the Observatory Rami Abdel Rahman. Pro-government newspaper
Al Watan reported a possible offensive against ISIL but gave no other details.
Expelling the extremists would give the government full control of the capital for the first time since 2012.
Once a thriving district and home to about 160,000 Syrians and Palestinians, Yarmuk has been devastated since 2012 as fighting broke out that year between the government and rebels in the camp. Thousands of people fled.
Since 2015, ISIL has controlled the vast majority of Yarmuk, while Syria’s Al Qaeda affiliate at the time controlled other parts.
In the past two weeks, fighters from Hayat Tahrir Al Sham – formerly allied to Al Qaeda and a merger of about half a dozen terrorist groups – have left Yarmuk under a negotiated withdrawal, but hundreds of ISIL fighters remain, the Observatory said. Three of these withdrawals have allowed tens of thousands of gunmen and civilians to leave Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that was once a key opposition stronghold.
Brokered by Russia, the Syrian government’s main ally, the agreements came after an intense air and land assault launched by regime troops on February 18.
But Syrian state media and the Observatory said on Thursday that an evacuation plan had been suspended.
State news agency Sana said the suspension was the result of disagreements within Jaish Al Islam rebel group, and that buses that had entered Douma to move people on Thursday returned empty.
Hundreds of fighters and civilians have left Douma in recent days, bound for areas in north Syria controlled by opposition fighters who are supported by Turkey.
The Observatory said the suspension was triggered by measures taken by Turkish troops in areas where opposition fighters are arriving.
Government forces waged a powerful offensive in Eastern Ghouta in February and March. Douma is the last town in Eastern Ghouta under rebel control.
Late on Wednesday, 635 people – Jaish Al Islam rebels and their families – left Douma for the northern rebel-held town of Jarabulus, Sana reported.
With Russia’s backing, President Bashar Al Assad’s government has regained much of Syria that it lost to rebels and extremists in the seven-year war.