Syrian Islamists Exchange Women and Children Prisoners for Rebel Commander

Islamist militants and pro-regime fighters made a prisoner exchange on Sunday, with the insurgents releasing two dozen women and children in exchange for one of their captive commanders, Agence France-Presse reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 children and 15 women from Shiite towns in Aleppo province had been held by Jaish al-Mujahideen, an Islamist coalition that fights the Syrian regime, ISIS and pro-government militia.

Both towns had been under a long siege by anti-government forces, including Jaish al-Mujahideen.

In a deal mediated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the women were released in an exchange for Yousef Zawaa, a Jaish al-Mujahideen commander who was held by armed groups loyal to the Syrian regime, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman told Agence France-Presse.

“Kidnap for ransom is common in Syria but trades between opposing sides in the fighting are infrequent,” Reuters reports.

On Monday, Islamist fighters kidnapped some 300 Kurdish fighters at a checkpoint in northwestern Syria who were taken captive on Sunday, holding them for several hours before releasing them.

Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said the group had been detained by Jaysh al-Islam, an Islamist group allied to Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate.

The group fights alongside Jabhat al-Nusra in Idlib but is also present in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus.

The Kurds were released in exchange for three Islamist fighters who had been detained in Afrin by Kurdish forces, Khalil said.

Facing Escalating Violence and Desperate Conditions, U.N. Security Council Urges Safe Evacuations of Syria’s Yarmouk Civilians

The U.N. Security Council on Monday called for aid access to Yarmouk and safe passage and evacuation for up to 18,000 Palestinians facing escalating violence in the refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus, Reuters reports.

The Islamic State launched an offensive on Yarmouk last week and has since seized control of 90 percent of the camp while the Syrian army surrounds the district.

Control of Yarmouk gives the group its largest foothold to date in Damascus, putting it just a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power.

Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp has been besieged by fighting between Syrian government forces and rebel forces since 2012. Thousands of Palestinian refugees are trapped inside the camp, facing starvation, malnutrition, disease and inadequate access to clean water and electricity.

The camp’s population has shrunk from approximately 150,000 to only 18,000 as conditions have worsened inside the camp.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), briefed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the 15-member council about the situation inside the camp and told reporters after briefing the council that the situation in Yarmouk “is more desperate than ever.”

Krahenbuhl urged states with influence over warring parties to pressure them to observe international human rights and humanitarian law, which requires protection of civilians, and urged the council to “think about possible measures that would facilitate an orderly and safe evacuation of those who wish to leave the camp.”

The situation in Yarmouk is currently too dangerous for any aid to be delivered. Krahenbuhl said “a significant percentage of civilians” are now in areas of the camp controlled by armed groups including the Islamic State group and that the refugees were very weak – existing on about 400 calories a day.

Recommended Reads

• The New York Times: Crisis in Palestinian Camp in Syria Has Worsened Since ISIS Invasion, U.N. Says
• Agence France-Presse: Fleeing the Horror of IS Atrocities in Syria
• Agence France-Presse: Skype Meets Theater in Syria Twist on Romeo and Juliet
• Reuters: Islamic State Destroy Church in Syria on Easter
• VICE: Syria’s First Responders Welcome Female Recruits
• The National: ISIL’s Yarmouk Offensive Has Profound Implications

Photo Courtesy of AP Images