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- Rebels Promise Hama Attacks, as Fighting Continues Around Key Regime Position in Idlib Province to North
- Regime Declares “Fruitful” Talks with Opposition Figures in Moscow
Already bombing and shelling the Yarmouk section of southern Damascus, the Assad regime has said that it may pursue ground operations amid fighting between the Islamic State, Palestinian groups, and rebels.
The crisis in Yarmouk, which has been besieged by the Syrian military since July 2012, escalated last week when the Islamic State entered the area in a dispute with the Palestinian faction Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis. The jihadists now occupy most of Yarmouk, home to about 15,000 Palestinian refugees, although frontlines appear to have settled since Tuesday.
Local activists say the Assad regime has been dropping dozens of barrel bombs and shelling Yarmouk in effective support of the Islamic State’s attacks on Palestinian groups and rebels. Another six barrel bombs reportedly hit the area on Wednesday.
Syrian Government officials have met representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization since Tuesday. Afterwards, Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said:
The priority now is to expel and defeat militants and terrorists in the camp.
Under the present circumstances, a military solution is necessary.
Haidar did not set a timetable for operations, “The Syrian state will decide whether the battle requires it.”
The PLO’s Ahmed Majdalani offered support: “It is more and more difficult to talk about a political solution in the camp. The Palestinian leadership will support any decision by the Syrian government.”
Meanwhile, UN officials repeated warnings about the humanitarian situation, with water, electricity, and food cut off for those remaining out of the pre-war population of up to 200,000.
“The level of inhumanity that Yarmouk has descended to is frankly unimaginable,” said Chris Gunness of the UN Relief and Works Agency. “The situation is absolutely desperate. We need urgently to have humanitarian access, which is why UNRWA is calling for all parties to exercise influence with their clients on the ground so that we can get into the camp.”
Rebels Promise Hama Attacks, as Fighting Continues Around Key Regime Position in Idlib Province to North
Rebels have promised an offensive in northern and western Hama Province, trying to cripple the Assad regime’s defense of a key position in Idlib Province to the north.
The Faylaq as-Sham brigade announced the challenge to regime checkpoints in Tel al-Hamimat and Morek, on the highway from Hama to Idlib.
A coalition of rebel factions will be involved in the “The Believers Are But Brothers” campaign. One of them, Ahrar as-Sham, said it carried out a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in western Hama on Wednesday, killing 20 regime soldiers.
The rebel move comes after the Assad regime reinforced its defenses at the Mastoumeh camp south of Idlib city. Pro-regime accounts claim elite forces under Colonel Suheil “The Tiger” Hassan are among the reinforcements.
Rebels captured the provincial capital of Idlib last month. Takeover of Mastoumeh would open up prospects for further advances into Hama, Aleppo, and Latakia Provinces.
Regime Declares “Fruitful” Talks with Opposition Figures in Moscow
The head of the Assad regime’s delegation has said that talks with opposition figures in Moscow have been “fruitful”.
Russia’s second round of discussions between the groups opened with three sessions on Wednesday, with Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari speaking of “joint points in spite of differences inside the delegation of the opposition figures”.
Jaafari gave no details, but State media said he was presenting an eight-point paper on “Estimating the Status Quo” on Thursday.
