Press. Voanews.
Hundreds of
civilians living in a militant-held pocket of southern Damascus were caught in
fierce clashes between Russian-backed Syrian government forces and militant
groups controlling southern Damascus neighborhoods. Syrian government forces
launched a military operation five days ago to seize the area.
“Dozens of
families took refuge in basements and shelters, suffering in dire conditions
from lack of water and food, as fighter jets continue to pummel the area,”
Mattar Ismael, a journalist living in south Damascus, told VOA. Ismael added
that the Syrian government deployed large numbers of forces and heavy artillery
encircling Yarmouk after taking over rebel-held territories in eastern Ghouta.
The United
Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA), an organization that works to help
Palestinian refugees in the Near East, estimates the number of civilians living
in southern Damascus are about 12,000. About 6,000 of them are Palestinian
refugees.
“Supplies of
food and medicine are running low. There is no running water and very little
electricity. Health care options are limited, and there are no doctors in the
area,” Reuters reported, citing UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness.
Yarmouk camp
witnessed one of the most devastating embargo campaigns when the Syrian government
besieged the area for several months in 2013, causing severe deprivation and
hunger among civilians.
Who controls
south Damascus?
Different rebel
groups and militants control the district of southern Damascus. In April 2015,
Islamic State took over Yarmouk camp, the biggest Palestinian refugee camp in
Syria, displacing thousands of civilians. IS also controls the neighborhoods of
Hajr Al Aswad, Tadamun and Al Asali.
Yarmouk camp was
established in 1957 for the Palestinian refugees who fled the 1948 war with
Israel. According to UNRWA, the camp was home to about 160,000 Palestinians
before Syria's conflict in 2011. In the adjacent areas, the Free Syrian Army
rebels control Yalda, Babila and Beit Sahm. A small pocket called Al Rijeh is
controlled by former al-Qaida-affiliate group Tahrir Al Sham. Syrian government
forces have encircled all militant-controlled areas in south Damascus.
Negotiations
with IS
Negotiations
between the Syrian government and IS failed mainly because the leaders of IS
asked for a guarantee from Russia for its safety when they were evacuated to
the Syrian desert. “IS militants wanted a guarantee to not be attacked by any
party when they evacuate, like the coalition, in case they went to east Syria,
nor by the Free Syrian Army, in case they went south, where an IS-affiliated
group exists there,” Ismael said.
Ismael added
that the Syrian government’s push into Yarmouk aims to force IS militants to
leave the area without any guarantees, as the current IS leader in Yarmouk
camp, Abu Mohammed Thiabieh, vowed to carry out suicide attacks under the
Syrian government's control.
The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based rights group monitoring the
situation in Syria, said a counterattack targeted neighborhoods in Damascus
under the control of the regime, killing 11 civilians and injuring dozens.