Islamic State fighters seized most of a Palestinian camp on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus yesterday, nearing President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power.
A rival jihadist group said sharia law would govern a city seized by rebels in the northwest of Syria.
Though unrelated, the developments showed the dominant role of jihadists in a war entering its fifth year and the risk they pose to al-Assad even as he appears in control of Damascus and other populous areas in western Syria.
The Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, a few kilometres from the heart of Damascus and home to thousands of people, has been in insurgent hands and besieged by government forces since the early days of a conflict that began in 2011.
Mirroring the way Islamic State has grown elsewhere in Syria, its fighters seized control of areas of the camp from other insurgents, helped by rebels from the rival al- Qaeda-linked Nusra Front who switched sides, a political activist in the area said.
“They pushed from the Hajar Aswad area and Nusra fighters have joined them, they have pledged loyalty to Daesh,” the activist said, speaking via Skype on condition of anonymity.
Daesh is an Arabic name used to refer to Islamic State by its opponents. Anwar Abdel Hadi, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative in Damascus, said: “[Islamic State] went into Yarmouk today. There are clashes between the militants at the moment.”
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State controlled some of the main streets in the devastated camp. Government officials could not be reached for comment. Yarmouk was home to half a million Palestinian refugees before Syria’s conflict erupted in 2011.
Its population is now about 18,000, according to a UN estimate.
Hassan Hassan, an analyst and author of a book about Islamic State, said the group had long wanted a foothold close to the capital but that it was unlikely to be able to storm it.
“The regime has established strong checkpoints and infrastructure to prevent forces from actually getting inside Damascus. But they are edging closer.”
Islamic State has been trying to expand into western areas of Syria far away from its strongholds on the other side of the country, where it has faced a campaign of air strikes by the US and allied Arab countries. Recent forays by Islamic State have focused on government-held areas that are not being targeted in that campaign. Such attacks appear to be gathering pace.
Its fighters killed 45 people including entire families, burning some people to death, in a massacre overnight between Monday and Tuesday in the government-held village of Mabouja, a 60km drive east of Hama city, the Observatory reported.