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 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 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the
conflict from Britain, said Syrian air force jet bombed the camp on Saturday.
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.
The Observatory said Islamic State and al Qaeda's official
Syria wing, the Nusra Front, made gains overnight, pushing into the northeast
of the district, close to central Damascus. They now control 90 percent of the
camp, it said.
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.
"Some families are trying to exit the camp but with
Islamic State snipers on rooftops of high buildings that is very
difficult," he said. He added Islamic State had kidnapped at least 74
people from the camp and that civilians were trying to flee.
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 was has killed 220,000 people and displaced
millions.
Government officials could not be reached for comment.
Syria's state news agency SANA said terrorists in the camp had prevented aid
from reaching civilians. It added the army had encircled Yarmouk.
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