Tuesday, April 7, 2015

ISIS Taking Palestinian Refugee Camp in Damascus

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                         

Syria's President Assad lives in Damascus.  In his backyard, about 5 miles from his home lies Yarmouk Palestine Refugee Camp, which is really a well established town today from what it was in 1957.
                                                                           
Free Syrian Army Rebels
During Syria's Civil War that started in 2012, it became a scene of intense fighting between the western backed rebels of Free Syrian Army and their Palestinian ally, Liwa al-Asifa, Palestinians formerly loyal to Syrian President Assad, have defected to the rebels, sources told Lebanese press in 2012.                                                                                           
                                                                         
PFLP Terrorists
                                                                             
Al Nusra Terrorists took Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp (city) with others which covers 0.81 sq miles.  It has actually become a city.  
The Syrian Army of Assad had besieged the camp causing many to flee from there.  Conditions have deteriorated for the 18,000 Palestinian refugees and other Syrians inside the camp.  CNN reported that they were subsisting on 400 calories a day where a human needs about 2,000 to be healthy.  ""There is no wood, we are burning furniture and clothes to keep warm. People have burned their bedrooms, chairs, living rooms. We are burning things which are not purely wood, which has caused many health problems." - Ra'eda.

Yarmouk has been  better than Palestinian refugee camps in other parts of Syria before this fighting started.  Cement block homes on narrow streets had sprung up and shops were lining 2 main roads and were filled with service taxis and microbuses that run through the camp.  There are no tents or slums here.  It is a residential area with beauty salons and internet cafes.  Many professionals came here to live, such as doctors, engineers and civil servants, casual laborers and street vendors.  They have 4 hospitals and many government-run secondary schools.  UNRWA opeates 20 elementry schools and 8 preparatory schools in the camp and sponsors 2 women's program centers.  UNRWA also has 3 health care centers here.  Canada donated money for an upgrade in 1996.  The USA gave money in 1997 to upgrade 6 schools.  Australia donated money for a kindergarten.  
                                                                 
ISIS Taking Yarmouk Camp
ISIS terrorists entered the camp on April 1, 2015, which was last Wednesday; 6 days ago.  They came to blows with the Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis and the Free Syrian Army.  Initially, ISIS took over much of the camp but were later pushed back from some of the places before regaining control.  By the next day, ISIS was in control of the Yarmouk camp and was handing out bread to the refugees.  Later reports are that the Palestinian fighters along with local rebels managed to push ISIS terrorists out of Yarmouk. Fighting against ISIS are the Palestinian militiamen opposed to the Syrian government and some Free Syrian Army fighters. 

         Still and all, ISIS is in Damascus. The UN is demanding access to Yarmouk.  

Update: 4/8/15 11:17am  The reason supply trucks cannot enter the camp is that IS is in control and is fighting against Assad's forces.  This is why the Palestinians are hungry.  They had run out of food.   IS has beheaded a few of the soldiers fighting them.  It seems that none of the civilians in Damascus know what is going on in this camp, and the UN, if they gained entrance, would find themselves in the middle of a dangerous battle.   


                                                                         
Safed (Tzfat), Israel-on top of a mountain, about as high as Jerusalem's altitude
The distance to Safed, Israel, where I lived for 5 years is only 60 miles from Damascus.  Safed is in the northern Galilee.                                                  
My Safed apartment building #213
                                                                           
Old City of Safed, built on a mountain with a lot of steps
Resource:  Yarmouk Camp-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32210437
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Capturing-Yarmouk-camp-another-Syrian-rebel-gain
http://www.unrwa.org/crisis-in-yarmouk
***http://www.israelandstuff.com/isis-beheading-syrian-palestinians-in-damascus-suburb-of-yarmouk#.VSBw0SJLm2Q.facebook
http://www.smh.com.au/world/syria-besieged-yarmouk-refugee-camp-a-test-for-international-community-20150407-1mfjjr.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-accused-of-beheading-captives-in-palestinian-refugee-camp-yarmouk-as-advance-towards-syrian-capital-damascus-continues-10158061.html

6 comments:

  1. Andre, Wow! I posted this website to my facebook page.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i reckon we think a lot alike then ;) .

    ReplyDelete
  3. well i do not know if true or not.....but.....i do think these webpage more likely to tell us than other media. but we will have to see what comes of this info. let's put it this way: would not be surprised if true. ISIS has gained incredible ground all over the world. and there are already elements we know that are here to make sure they get in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. from Gatestone Institute, Khaled Abu Toameh reported:http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5527/palestinians-yarmouk-syria
    For Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders, the desire to punish Israel is stronger than the will to save the lives of thousands of Palestinians being killed in Syria by the Islamic State and starved by the Syrian army, which has been besieging Yarmouk for 700 days.

    Instead of devoting their energies and efforts to stop the massacres in Yarmouk, PA officials were busy preparing a new draft resolution to be submitted to the UN Security Council, establishing a timeline for ending Israeli "occupation."

    The Arab foreign ministers who met in Cairo earlier this week to discuss ways of backing the new Palestinian bid, deliberately ignored that, as they were chatting and sipping coffee, Palestinians were being slaughtered and forced to flee their homes in Yarmouk.....read more on his webpage listed above.

    ReplyDelete
  5. from Honest Reporting by Pesach Benson: 1. Palestinian gunmen in the Yarmouk refugee camp told AFP and Channel 4 that ISIS forces have largely withdrawn from the camp. Don’t hold your breath for waiting for any media conversation on matters like disproportionate force, civilian casualties, attacking hospitals, etc. What happens in Yarmouk stays in Yarmouk.

    “Today there are no more IS militants inside Yarmouk,” said “Mustafa Ahmed”, who uses a pseudonym to disguise his identity. “Most of the militants are at the frontline between IS and the Aknaf brigades in the south eastern part near the hospital.”

    Last Wednesday night Syrian government aircraft dropped barrel bombs on the Palestine Hospital, the only functioning healthcare facility in Yarmouk, after IS militants started to use it as a base.

    ReplyDelete