Syria: ISIS seizes 90 percent of Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus
]
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Saturday made major gains in Syria by conquering most of a refugee enclave near Damascus.
Reuters reported the radical group now controls 90 percent of the camp in Yarmouk. ISIS is now knocking at the doors of Syrian President Bashar Assad, only miles away in Syria’s capital.
The United Nations estimates approximately 18,000 civilians find themselves trapped between Assad’s forces and ISIS militias. Britain’s Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added Syrian jets had bombed ISIS positions near the camp Saturday.
“The situation in Yarmouk is an affront to the humanity of all of us, a source of universal shame,” U.N. Relief and Works Agency spokesperson Chris Gunness said.
“Yarmouk is a test, a challenge for the international community,” he continued. “We must not fail. The credibility of the international system itself is at stake.”
ISIS launched its assault on Yarmouk on Wednesday. The terrorist organization is looking to grasp more territory from Assad’s government and other rebel factions in the troubled Middle Eastern nation.
ISIS fighters mainly encountered Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis forces in Yarmouk, a group largely comprised of Palestinian and Syrian refugees opposing Assad’s dictatorship.