Islamic State withdraws from Yarmouk refugee camp

Islamic State fighters have withdrawn from most of the district south of Damascus that hosts the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, leaving al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra largely in control. Hundreds of the fighters returned to their stronghold in Hajar al-Aswad, south of Yarmouk, where there has been fierce fighting between the group and its rival, Hamas-linked Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, at the main northern entrance to the area.

Although initial reports from Yarmouk suggested that Islamic State had been driven out by Palestinian factions acting in concert, it appears that Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra colluded to weaken these groups, particularly Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, enabling Jabhat al-Nusra to dominate. Islamic State "and Nusra are one", said Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) official Anwar Abdul Hadi.

There are two reasons why the two groups may have co-operated. In the past 18 months, Jabhat al-Nusra has forged an alliance with Israel, Hamas’s enemy, across the Golan Heights ceasefire line. UN peacekeepers in the buffer zone between Syria and Israel have reported co-operation between the group and Israel. There have been no attacks against Israel by insurgents operating on the Syrian side and Israeli hospitals have treated wounded Jabhat al-Nusra fighters before permitting them to return to the front.

UN observers also say that Israel has established just inside the occupied Golan a camp of 300 tents to house families of Syrian army deserters, some of whom may have joined Jabhat al-Nusra or its allies.

Threat

By opening the door to Islamic State, which has handed control of Yarmouk to Jabhat al-Nusra, the two have demonstrated to the Syrian government, another enemy of Israel, that they pose a major threat to its main power base and source of “legitimacy”, Damascus. The government cannot permit the two groups to hold the northern entrance to Yarmouk and to dominate territory in the capital’s southern suburbs. Over the past year, government forces have cleared insurgents from several strategic suburbs and pushed eastward Saudi-backed Islamic Front militants based in eastern Ghouta.

The degrading of the Hamas offshoot may also have prompted the PLO to deny Yarmouk’s defenders support from Fatah and Democratic Front fighters. PLO envoy to Damascus Ahmed Majdalani initially pledged support for the campaign against Islamic State, but he was contradicted by Ramallah, which claimed the PLO had to remain “neutral”.

Main target

Although West Bank sources claimed that external powers – perhaps Israel – had put pressure on the PLO to remain on the sidelines, the fact that Hamas’s offshoot was the main target of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra would have been welcomed by Ramallah. Under popular pressure, Ramallah has formed a “consensus government” with Hamas, but Hamas and Fatah, the main PLO faction, remains hostile.

The Islamic State move into Yarmouk increased the suffering for 18,000 Palestinian and Syrian refugees, who have experienced a lack of water, electricity, medical supplies and food for 28 months. Islamic State fighters reportedly beheaded half a dozen opponents and detained scores of civilians whose names were on lists provided by Jabhat al-Nusra. At least 2,500 residents fled to nearby areas, where they were housed in schools and provided with aid.

Before December 16th, 2012, when Jabhat al-Nusra and the rebel Free Syrian Army moved into Yarmouk, the township’s population was about one million (160,000 Palestinian refugees, the rest mainly Syrians).