IS expands in Damascus, al Qaeda vows sharia for city
2 April 2015 5:39 AM IST
Islamic State fighters seized most of a Palestinian camp on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday, 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 Assad even as he appears in control of Damascus and other populous areas in western Syria. The Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, a few kilometers (miles) 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 IS has grown elsewhere in Syria, its fighters seized control of areas of the camp from other insurgents, helped by rebels from al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front who switched sides.
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 Assad even as he appears in control of Damascus and other populous areas in western Syria. The Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, a few kilometers (miles) 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 IS has grown elsewhere in Syria, its fighters seized control of areas of the camp from other insurgents, helped by rebels from al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front who switched sides.
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