ISIS Losing Ground to Palestinians in Syria’s Yarmouk Refugee Camp

Militants from the Islamic State group have lost ground to Palestinian fighters in Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp two weeks after the group stormed the camp, AP reports.

ISIS fighters have retreated from much of the territory they seized in the camp after entering it on April 1, a resident calling himself Samer told AFP.

The retreat was confirmed by an official from a pro-Syrian regime Palestinian faction fighting against ISIS inside the camp.

“Because of pressures by the Palestinian factions on Daesh (Arabic acronym for ISIS) fighters, they were forced to retreat from some posts,” said Khaled Abdel-Majid, head of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front

“There are intermittent but ongoing clashes between Palestinian factions and ISIS,” said Abdel-Majid, adding that ISIS had deserted most of the neighborhoods it previously controlled.

“The fighters are now confined largely to the camp’s southwest, with Palestinian factions – both pro- and anti-Syrian regime – controlling most of the east and north,” Palestinian sources told AFP

Islamic State fighters overran much of Yarmouk earlier this month, establishing a foothold in the Syrian capital for the first time. The incursion was the latest spate of suffering endured by Yarmouk’s residents, who have faced starvation and disease amid a relentless two-year government siege.

Once home to 160,000 Palestinians and Syrian residents, Yarmouk’s population had shrunk to just 18,000 by the time ISIS overran the camp on April 1. As of Tuesday, only 6,000 residents remained in the camp, Reuters reports.

U.N. officials have described the situation in Yarmouk as “the deepest circle of hell.”

Syrian Rebels in South Reject al-Qaida Affiliate after Tensions

Syrian rebels in the south have rejected cooperation with Syrian al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra following tensions over the capture of a border crossing between Syria and Jordan, AFP reports.

Syrian rebel forces under the banner of the Southern Front retain a strong foothold in the south, unlike in the north, where Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State have seized large swathes of territory.

Jabhat al-Nusra, which has ousted pro-Western rebels in the north, also have a presence in the south and have occasionally joined the Southern Front in its battle against government forces.

But this week, Southern Front groups issued a statement condemning Jabhat al-Nusra’s ideology, and declared themselves the “sole military force representing the Syrian revolution” in the south, Reuters reports.

“We must announce our clear position: neither the Nusra Front or anything else with this ideology represents us,” said Bashar al-Zoubi, head of a rebel group called the Yarmouk army.

“The statement appears to have been prompted by incidents including an attempt by Nusra to arrest a Southern Front commander, and tension between the sides at the Nasib crossing with Jordan. The crossing was seized from the government on April 1, with both the Southern Front and Nusra claiming to have played the decisive role in taking it,” according to Reuters.

Essam al-Rayes, a spokesman from the Southern Front, told the AFP that the groups fighting under the Southern Front hoped their position would “tell Syrians that al-Nusra’s ties with al-Qaida push the revolution away from its path and objectives.”

While the rebels have publicly disassociated with Jabhat al-Nusra, Rayes said the groups had no intention of fighting against the militant group.

“This is not a declaration of war; we don’t want any tensions on the ground because our battle is not against al-Nusra.”

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Photo Courtesy of AP Images