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Syrian Civil War (Graphic Photos/Vid Not Allowed)

Rebels in besieged Deraa set to hold talks with Russian army
The new round of talks will determine whether rebels will withdraw to opposition areas or accept a return to state rule.

20 hours ago

Syrian rebels agreed to give up the strategic Nassib border crossing under the terms of a truce deal [Omar Sanadiki/Reuters]
MORE ON SYRIA'S WAR
Rebels in the besieged city of Deraa are set to hold talks with Russian officers on Tuesday for the evacuation of its fighters to opposition-controlled areas in northwestern Syria.

"Today there is a session with the Russians over the forced displacement," Abu Shaimaa, a spokesperson for the fighters, told Reuters news agency.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said the rebel-controlled part of the divided city of Deraa is surrounded by government troops with a few thousand people trapped inside, including fighters and their families.

Rebel commanders have accused the Russian military of violating the terms of a ceasefire agreement it brokered on behalf of the Syrian government last week, after failing to provide safe passage to those who do not wish to live under government rule.


WATCH: Syria regime, Russia accused of breaching ceasefire in Deraa


The government-affiliated al-Watan newspaper meanwhile said "the coming hours will be decisive on the level of ending the chapter of terrorism in Deraa city".

On June 19, Syrian government troops backed by Russian air power launched a fierce offensive in the southwestern province of Deraa with the aim of re-taking an area held by rebels for several years.

After more than two weeks of being battered, the opposition fighters eventually reached a ceasefire agreement with the government on Friday.

Under the deal, the rebels agreed to give up the strategic Nassib crossing with neighboring Jordan and hand over their heavy weapons, allowing Russian military police to deploy along the Jordanian border.

Troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's troops have managed to recapture large swaths of territory throughout of much of southern Syria.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...-hold-talks-russian-army-180710114613510.html
 
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On this thread, Iranians and assad supporters tend to call everything they disagree with "zionist/wahabi propaganda". This is a common dishonest tactic.

When videos were circulated showing how the alawite regime in syria was torturing and murdering children for protesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Hamza_Ali_Al-Khateeb Assad's own father in law instructed to Assad to call the various video footage "british propaganda" in an effort to delegitimise it. This was exposed when emails between Assad and some his family were leaked. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/15/assad-emails-father-in-law-crackdown

I'm fairly certain the Iranians on this thread are trying the same tactic.
 
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BHarwana said:
...Israel don't regards human life and that is an enough reason to make you look ugly -
Click to expand...

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Sketch of Israel's flag becomes Syrian girl's symbol of gratitude
Syrians, who are now fleeing in the thousands to Israel's border as Assad continues battling for control of the country, have been raised on a steady diet of anti-Israel propaganda. As the IDF's humanitarian efforts continue, Syrian children express their gratitude with drawings and one Syrian mother writes to an IDF officer: 'I hope the borders between us will one day be only geographical.'
Yoav Zitun|Published: 07.06.18 , 23:45

Last week was one of the busiest weeks since the launch of the IDF's Operation Good Neighbor two years ago, as fierce fighting in the Syrian southwestern city of Deraa precipitated the flight of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to the Israeli and Jordanian borders.

The two phones on the desk of Lt. Col. A, who oversees the operation, almost never cease to ring. On one line he tends to constant requests from Syrian liaison officials for humanitarian aid to citizens who have fled the fighting near Deraa. On the other line, IDF military personnel are regularly keeping him apprised of the situation in the field.




Lt. Col. A, who served in the West Bank, says he didn't encounter such expressions of gratitude—including warm handshakes from Syrians—from the many Palestinians he encountered over the years who received humanitarian assistance from the IDF.

Hung on the walls of his office are pictures of his children. Opposite, is a framed picture of a Star of David that was drawn by a 9-year-old Syrian girl who suffered from severe diabetes and was taken to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed for treatment last year.




When she returned to Israel for a medical inspection, she came across Lt. Col. A. by chance. While they were taking, the girl asked to draw an Israeli flag for him, and she did so with help from her mother, who growing up was fed a daily diet of Israel-hatred.


For the 9 year old, drawing the Star of David proved a difficult task, but she was eventually able to complete the sketch, and add her own huge expression of warmth for the country with a little green heart drawn above, alongside her and the officer's names.

In recent months, quite a few such drawings have been given to IDF soldiers by Syrian children who discovered that their only place of refuge from a brutal regime proved to be a country they had been indoctrinated to loath. The drawings are perhaps the only way these children have to convey their gratitude for the Israeli hand that extended in their hour of need.





Despite the fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war now being waged in the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, and the expected fall of rebel-held villages adjacent to Israel’s northern frontier into the hands of President Bashar Assad’s forces, the IDF has given no indication of any intention to abort Operation Good Neighbor, which was launched in June 2016 by the 210th Division of the Northern Command.

“There won't be support rallies for Israel by the border, but in another 15 years, a 19-year-old Syrian man who was operated on in Israel will see the two scars from the bullet he was hit by, and he will remember who saved his life, and he will tell his children too,” one officer from the Bashan Brigade, which carries out much of the humanitarian efforts on the border, told Ynet.

“It took time before we built trust with them. The first delivery of food that we sent them, they burned, because according to their customs, it is forbidden for an individual to accept help with food. So we began with food for babies and from there we sent sacks of flour weighing 25 kilograms to bakeries and that opened the door to other kinds of food,” the officer explained.



White rice sent to Syria as part of Israeli aid (Photo: Yoav Zitun)

“There were also cases when they told us that our bulgur (wheat groats) didn’t taste good, but that was alright,” he quipped. “It testified to the level of trust that had been formed. Now we send—mainly to the people who have fled—food that doesn’t need to be cooked, like cans of beans, corn and hummus.”



Coats sent to Syria as part of Israeli aid (Photo: Yoav Zitun)

“Designing reality, creating influence” is the motto behind Operation Good Neighbor, which appears to be bearing fruit. At the end of last week, dozens of tons of food and medical supplies were sent across the border to the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

At the same time, four Syrian children and two adults who were seriously wounded in the fighting in Daraa received medical treatment in Israel. As the fighting continues, the IDF is expecting more to come.


(Photo: Avihu Shapira)


Refugees from Deraa, the city in which the rebellion against Assad began seven years ago, have heard about Israel’s humanitarian efforts long ago, with many of the area's children receiving treatment from the IDF.

Most of the equipment that the IDF sends into Syria is donated by Israeli and foreign aid organizations and is estimated to be worth around NIS 275 million per year. Just the food sent to Syria last year was budgeted at NIS 10 million, at the IDF's expense.

“Since 2013, around 4,000 wounded Syrians have entered Israel. Some 1,300 children and 6,500 adults were treated at the clinic we established with the Americans on the border,” the officer said proudly. “Some 25,000 Syrians have received food and clothes from us, and our help has had an impact on 250,000 Syrians who live on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights."



(Photo: Avihu Shapira)

“We made it clear that we would not get involved in the war, and that we would continue supporting them with humanitarian aid later on as well. There are a few scenarios we're examining (if Assad regains control of the area), including the continuation of the aid through alternative avenues rather than directly,” the officer explained.

“This area will continue to be dangerous and that's where terrorists come in. That’s why we have an interest in ensuring that life in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights is reasonable.”

Lt. Col. A's bag, which he carries to all of his meetings, contains a letter from a 35-year-old Syrian woman written in Arabic after she was treated in Israel.

“I am grateful to the people of Israel and to the IDF for helping us and giving us medical supplies and food. I hope that the borders between us will one day be purely geographical. Yours, a stranger in my country.”

First published: 07.06.18,
 
Last edited:
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The Assad regime, russians and Iran, are so evil that even Israel tries to use their crimes in syria to look like a good nation lol ^

Although the Israelis should note, that Muslims know how badly you treat Palestinians and the Palestinian cause is something we won't ever abandon. You may try to use the suffering of syrian sunni Muslims to your advantage to do a PR stunt but we see through your schemes.
 
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Rebels in besieged Deraa set to hold talks with Russian army
The new round of talks will determine whether rebels will withdraw to opposition areas or accept a return to state rule.

16 hours ago

Syrian rebels agreed to give up the strategic Nassib border crossing under the terms of a truce deal [Omar Sanadiki/Reuters]
MORE ON SYRIA'S WAR
Rebels in the besieged city of Deraa are set to hold talks with Russian officers on Tuesday for the evacuation of its fighters to opposition-controlled areas in northwestern Syria.

"Today there is a session with the Russians over the forced displacement," Abu Shaimaa, a spokesperson for the fighters, told Reuters news agency.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said the rebel-controlled part of the divided city of Deraa is surrounded by government troops with a few thousand people trapped inside, including fighters and their families.

Rebel commanders have accused the Russian military of violating the terms of a ceasefire agreement it brokered on behalf of the Syrian government last week, after failing to provide safe passage to those who do not wish to live under government rule.


WATCH: Syria regime, Russia accused of breaching ceasefire in Deraa


The government-affiliated al-Watan newspaper meanwhile said "the coming hours will be decisive on the level of ending the chapter of terrorism in Deraa city".

On June 19, Syrian government troops backed by Russian air power launched a fierce offensive in the southwestern province of Deraa with the aim of re-taking an area held by rebels for several years.

After more than two weeks of being battered, the opposition fighters eventually reached a ceasefire agreement with the government on Friday.

Under the deal, the rebels agreed to give up the strategic Nassib crossing with neighboring Jordan and hand over their heavy weapons, allowing Russian military police to deploy along the Jordanian border.

Troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have managed to recapture large swaths of territory throughout of much of southern Syria.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...-hold-talks-russian-army-180710114613510.html
 
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Syrian government raises flag in Deraa, birthplace of revolt
State TV says the army hoisted the flag near the post office, as President Assad takes further control of the country.

7 hours ago

MORE ON MIDDLE EAST
The Syrian government raised the national flag on Thursday over areas of Deraa city that have been in rebel hands for years, a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad in the eight-year-old civil war.

State television said the army hoisted the flag near the post office on Thursday, the only government building in the portion of the city that had been held by rebels since the early days of the uprising that began there in 2011 with large protests.

READ MORE
Israel launches air attacks on three Syrian military facilities
Government forces backed by Russian air strikes have recovered swathes of southern Deraa province in the last three weeks, advancing unopposed by Assad's western and regional foes into the strategically vital region near Jordan and Israel.

It marks another milestone in Assad's efforts to recover control of Syria, where civil war is estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven some 11 million people from their homes.

The campaign in the southwest is now expected to target rebel-held enclaves at the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel signalled it would not impede the offensive, even as it struck Syrian army posts near the frontier in retaliation for a drone incursion.

With critical help from Russia and Iran, Assad has now recovered most of Syria. Anti-Assad rebels still control a chunk of the northwest, and the northeast and a large chunk of the east are controlled by Kurdish-led groups.

Little hope for negotiated peace
As Assad pursues military victory, there appears to be little hope of a negotiated peace which Western governments say is needed to bring stability and encourage refugees to return.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from neighbouring Beirut, said the rebel factions in Deraa city agreed to surrender and lay down their weapons overnight.

READ MORE
Rebels in besieged Deraa set to hold talks with Russian army
"It is a strategic and a symbolic win for the Syrian government. By this win, the government reclaimed the control of its border with Jordan and the border crossing to start international trade," she said.

"There is still a pocket controlled by the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in Deraa. The government is expected to launch an operation to capture this area," she added.

Heavily outgunned, rebels in parts of Deraa province reached an agreement to surrender territory last week. In Deraa city, rebels are still in talks with Russian officers to secure safe passage out, rebel officials said.

A senior Russian military delegation entered the rebel-held area of the city on Thursday and began negotiations over its handover to state rule, rebel officials and a witness said.

Two armoured vehicles with senior Russian officers entered the devastated old city and began talks with commanders from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on implementing the terms of the deal.

WITNESS

Silent War: How Rape Became a Weapon in Syria


SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...-deraa-birthplace-revolt-180712180058690.html
 
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Ibn Punjab said:
Whilst you're on the subject of sectarian flaming, could you have a word with the Iranian dude ( the user 2800) who keeps reporting other people for sectarianism. He was calling people wahabi scum or something on this thread quite recently. He seems to think it's fine to diss people's sects/sub sects but when they reply to him about shia, the guy starts crying like a little girl and running to you mods.

I haven't been online for a few days so I'm just seeing your message now so I'm making you aware of 2800's posts too. You might already know and may have dealt with 2800 already but I thought I'd point this out just in case.
Click to expand...

Action is taken regardless of any sect, religion or nationality. Report such matters and move on without doing so in return otherwise, both will be treated in same manners.

Regards,
 
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IDF delivers aid to displaced Syrians as rebels surrender to Assad
Army says food, fuel, tents delivered; assistance comes just before opposition hands over heavy weapons, government forces return to area in country's southwest
By JUDAH ARI GROSS Today, 3:45 pm 1

  • Israeli troops prepare to deliver tons of food and other humanitarian aid to southern Syria in July 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)


    The Israeli military oversaw the transfer of tons of food, thousands of liters of fuel, dozens of tents and medical equipment to the war-torn Syrian southwest over the past week, the military said Thursday, as dictator Bashar Assad’s forces bombarded the remaining opposition groups in the area and reportedly forced them to surrender.

    “Over the past week, the 210th ‘Bashan’ Division led six special operations in a number of locations, in which humanitarian aid was transferred to Syrians in tent cities on the [Syrian] Golan Heights,” the army said in a statement.
    According to the Israel Defense Forces, these shipments included: 72 tons of food, 70 tents, 9,000 liters of fuel, medicine and medical equipment, clothing and toys.

    The military reiterated that Israel would continue to provide aid to the tens of thousands of displaced Syrians who have set up overflowing, under-resourced tent cities along the border, “which lack access to water, electricity, food sources and basic necessities,” but would not allow refugees to cross the border.

    Israel has been providing humanitarian aid and medical care to Syrians living in the Quneitra and Daraa provinces in the country’s southwest since 2013. This practice stepped up and became formalized in 2016 under an IDF program known as Operation Good Neighbor. The full extent of the project was only revealed a year after it was founded.

    These transfers of humanitarian aid and acceptance of injured Syrians into Israeli hospitals have stepped up in recent weeks, since the Assad regime’s offensive began on June 19, according to Israeli officials.

    Israel has thus far treated some 5,000 Syrians, most of them injured in the civil war but also some with unrelated medical conditions, in field hospitals on the border and in public hospitals, mostly in northern Israel.

    Israel also worked with international aid organizations to open a clinic along the border in 2017. Since its opening last year, the clinic has treated some 6,000 additional Syrian patients.

    YUV_0208-e1500490442815.jpg

    In this undated photo provided on July 19, 2017, an IDF soldier feeds a Syrian baby in Israel as part of the army’s humanitarian aid program to assist Syrians impacted by the civil war in their country. (Israel Defense Forces)
    In addition, Israel has insisted that Syria abide by the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement, reached following the Yom Kippur War the year before, which established a demilitarized zone along the border between the two countries. Syria is still formally at war with Israel.

    Though the purpose of this demilitarized zone was to prevent further clashes between the two countries Israel has also, by calling for a strict adherence to the ceasefire agreement, established a de facto safe zone where fleeing Syrians can be spared from the Assad regime’s offensive to some degree.

    On Tuesday, approximately 200 Syrians who were displaced by the recent onslaught approached the Israeli border, some of them waving white flags, in an apparent effort to get assistance from the Jewish state.

    Soldiers used bullhorns to tell them to back away from the fence.

    “Go back before something bad happens. If you want us to be able to help you, go back,” an Israeli officer told the crowd in Arabic, according to Reuters. “Get a move on.”

    An IDF spokesperson said this was due to concerns that they were approaching a live minefield near the border.

    000_17Q9GC.jpg

    Syrians, displaced by fighting in the country’s southwest, approach the border fence between Syria and Israel the Syrian village of Bariqu in the southern province of Quneitra, on July 17, 2018 (AFP /JALAA MAREY)
    On Thursday, Syrian rebels agreed with Russia, which supports the Assad regime, to the negotiated surrender of the Quneitra province, which lies along the border with Israel, a monitor said.

    Rebels have held most of the province and the buffer zone for years but would hand over their territory as part of the surrender deal, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

    “The deal provides for a ceasefire, the handover of heavy and medium weapons, and the return of government institutions to the area,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

    Syrian police forces would take over current opposition territory in the buffer zone, he told AFP.

    000_17Q03U-e1531742868896.jpg

    Smoke plumes rising from reported Syrian and Russian airstrikes across the border in Syria’s southeastern Quneitra province, as seen from the Israeli Golan Heights, July 16, 2018. (JALAA MAREY/AFP)
    Those who refuse the terms of the agreement would be granted safe passage to opposition territory in northern Syria, he added.

    A member of the rebel delegation to the talks confirmed to AFP that a deal had been reached for government forces to enter the buffer zone but said it was unclear when it would be implemented.

    State news agency SANA said it had preliminary information on a deal for the army to return to its pre-2011 positions in the area, but did not provide more details.

    The deal, according to the Observatory, does not include Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist-led alliance that holds territory straddling the provinces of Quneitra and neighboring Daraa.

    Israel is reportedly in talks with Russia for arrangements in the border area to return to demarcation lines drawn up in 1974, specifically to keep Iranian forces and Iran-backed militias out of the area.

    Both the United States and Israel are also worried about Iran’s growing military presence in Syria, where it has provided crucial aid to Assad’s forces. Russia, another key backer of Assad, has reportedly agreed to remove Iranian troops from the border region but allow them to remain in other parts of Syria.

    Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, or its Shiite proxies, to establish a permanent presence in postwar Syria that could threaten the Jewish state.

    Russia has warned it was unrealistic to expect Iran to fully withdraw from the country, but there have been signs of an emerging compromise between Moscow and Jerusalem on the issue. Senior Israeli officials say Russia is working to prevent Iran from entrenching its military along Israel’s northern border with Syria, according to Hebrew media reports.

 
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Syrian rebels 'reach agreement' with government to leave Quneitra
The deal is the latest in a string of agreements that have marked the government's recapture of much of southern Syria.

18 hours ago

f660b56d9bf24f708e7c72ba8df63bc9_18.jpg

The UK-based Syrian Observatory says the deal provides for a ceasefire between rebels and government forces [Reuters]
MORE ON MIDDLE EAST
Syrian rebels have reached an agreement with government forces to leave the strategic area of Quneitra along the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Syria's official SANA news agency reported.

Citing reports, SANA said the agreement "stipulates the departure to Idlib of terrorists who reject the settlement", and allow those who wish to remain to "settle" their status with the authorities, meaning accepting a return of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

In recent days, government forces regained control of strategic parts of Quneitra, leaving only a few pockets of the province under rebel control.

WATCH: Syria's Deraa - Regime raises flag in cradle of protest movement (2:39)


The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed the report, adding that "the deal provides for a ceasefire, the handover of heavy and medium weapons and the return of government institutions in the area."

Reuters news agency said it obtained a document of what a rebel source purports to be the final agreement - which includes a provision for Russian military police to accompany two Syrian army brigades into a demilitarised zone agreed upon with Israel in 1973 along the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel had earlier raised alarms that the Syrian government would allow the presence of Iranian troops along its frontiers.

US President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin that Washington and Moscow had agreed to coordinate efforts in order to ensure Israel's security.

Putin, the Syrian government's key ally in the nearly eight-year war, cited the need to restore the situation along the Golan borders to the state that prevailed before the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011.

On Tuesday, troops loyal to Bashar al-Assad launched an intense bombing campaign on the densely populated southern town of Nawa, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 100, according to activists and rescuers.

'Cradle of the uprising'
The air raids, which were launched on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, hit the rebel-held city's only hospital, rendering it non-operational and causing dozens of reported casualties.

The bombardment is part of the government's military offensive - which it began on June 19 - on the remaining opposition pockets in the southwestern region, which includes the Deraa and Quneitra provinces straddling the border with Jordan and the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Nawa, home to at least 100,000 people, is the largest urban centre still controlled by rebels in Deraa province.

OPINION
quote.png
What does the Helsinki summit mean for Syria?

by Yury Barmin
Wednesday's attacks focused on towns and villages surrounding Nawa, making the road in and out of it deadly, according to a local activist who goes by the name Selma Mohammed.

In less than a month, Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power, have been able to seize control of most of southwestern Deraa province, including the provincial capital of the same name.

The city of Deraa was the cradle of the uprising against al-Assad more than seven years ago.

Alongside the military offensive, the government has struck "reconciliation" deals, essentially a negotiated capitulation of a number of villages that have been in rebel hands for years, to restore government control there.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...overnment-leave-quneitra-180719085742828.html
 
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Sisters recount years of horror in Syria’s Palestinian camp
800.jpeg



[7/19/18]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — When the first Syrian soldier reached Lod street in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Syria’s capital, four sisters who survived the seven-year conflict hiding in their ground floor apartment emerged hesitantly and asked: “Are you a soldier or a militant?”

The young man came closer and took out his military ID to prove he was a Syrian soldier. The women began wailing emotionally, hardly believing that three years of rule by the Islamic State group had come to an end.

“The nightmare is over. They are gone,” said 62-year-old Izdihar Abdul-Mahmoud.

The Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus, once home to the largest concentration of Palestinians outside the territories housing nearly 160,000 people, has been gutted by years of war. Its few remaining residents have been traumatized by relentless fighting, bombardment, siege and starvation. To rise again, officials estimated that 80 percent of its homes will need to be razed.

800.jpeg

The exterior walls of a building sheared away during fighting in Yarmouk camp. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

On a recent afternoon, the Abdul-Mahmoud sisters gathered with neighbors, friends and soldiers outside their apartment, recalling the horrors they lived through the past years as they sipped dark Arabic coffee. Under IS, they were not allowed to even sit in the alley where their apartment is located.

“At the start of the siege I used to weigh 87 kilograms (191 pounds) and later 49 kilograms (107 pounds) in late 2013 and early 2014,” said Izdihar, the eldest of six sisters and four brothers.

800.jpeg

Izdihar Abdul-Mahmoud (center) walks with her sister Amal Dabour (left) in Yarmouk camp. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Before the war, Yarmouk was a densely populated district of cheaply built multistory homes but was called a “camp” because Palestinians came there as refugees during the 1948 Mideast war that resulted in the creation of Israel.

Demonstrations took place in the camp early in the conflict, which began in the south with protests against President Bashar Assad’s rule in March 2011. In December 2012, rebels then referred to as members of the Free Syrian Army took over the camp from government forces.

Airstrikes and bombings by the government became almost a daily occurrence. Rival insurgent groups fought one another until 2015 when the Islamic State group took control of most of the camp after deadly clashes with Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, a faction linked to the Palestinian Hamas group.

A government siege of Yarmouk between 2013 and 2014 left up to 200 people dead of hunger-related illnesses and a lack of medical aid.

A picture taken during a U.N. food distribution mission in January 2014 showed thousands of desperate and gaunt-looking residents thronging a neighborhood street amid destroyed buildings on both sides as they waited for food handouts.

800.jpeg

The iconic 2014 picture in Yarmouk camp. (UNRWA via AP, File)

It became an iconic image reflecting the camp’s inhumane conditions and the suffering caused by the civil war.

One of the Abdul-Mahmoud sisters, Hana, 52, said people were on the verge of starvation in 2014 when the U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, brought in supplies — a box of food staples for each family.

“This box lasted a month. When we carried it home we felt as if we were at a wedding carrying a bride,” Hanan said.

800.jpeg

Amal Abdul-Mahmoud sits with her sisters outside their house in Yarmouk camp. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The youngest, Amal, 45, said when they ate bread for the first time after a long time they had difficulty swallowing it, as they had become used to mostly eating soup.

The sisters’ life worsened in 2015 when IS took control and imposed their strict interpretation of Islam, warning the women to wear a long black coat, cover their faces and put on gloves or face an Islamic court.

The sisters conformed but refused to leave their home when the extremists asked them to because it was close to the frontline with government forces and pro-government Palestinian gunmen.

“Once they came and searched the house and our cellular telephones suspecting we were (Syrian) regime agents,” Izdihar said.

The sisters and a neighbor who lived through the camp’s siege, Imad Omar, 60, said IS fighters used to force teenagers and younger boys to attend their main school where they learned how to use weapons and how to cut off heads by training on slitting the throats of dolls.

One of the men that they tried to recruit was camp resident Rami Ahmad, a 28-year-old tailor. When he refused he was detained and subjected to torture, including whipping with electric cables.

“I confessed to things I did not do,” the young man said adding that he was later released and immediately fled to the nearby rebel-held suburb of Yalda. He returned to the camp in May, three years after leaving.

800.jpeg

An Islamic State slogan scribbled in Arabic on the walls in Yarmouk camp reads, “Islamic State is lasting”. The word ‘Islamic’ is crossed out, leaving the slogan as “the state is lasting.” (AP Photo /Hassan Ammar)

Living near the front line put the sisters close to the fighting but also spared them from airstrikes that leveled much of the Yarmouk camp. Most buildings where the family lives in Lod street, named after the Palestinian city which is now part of Israel, are still intact as warplanes did not target them, apparently avoid hitting nearby army positions by mistake.

A report released earlier this month by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor titled “Yarmouk Camp, The Abandoned Pain,” said the siege since 2012 killed 200 refugees due to hunger and lack of medical supplies.

The report said that 80 percent of houses in the camp are “nearing complete destruction.” Entire buildings on both sides of the streets have been turned to piles of flattened debris.

On July 3, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl visited Yarmouk, becoming the first senior U.N. official in years to access the camp.

“Wherever one looks, the horror experienced by inhabitants of Yarmouk is all too evident,” he said.

800.jpeg

Syrian soldiers man an army checkpoint with a picture of President Bashar Assad at Yarmouk camp. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

On April 19, Syrian troops and pro-government Palestinian gunmen began an all-out campaign to retake the camp and end the extremists’ presence. After a month of intense fighting, the extremists agreed to leave the camp along with their families to areas held by IS in eastern Syria.

During the visit by an Associated Press team, sporadic explosions could be heard in the camp as security experts detonated mines and boobytraps left behind by the extremists.

Hanan said the most emotional moment was when the sisters’ brother, Yasser, who lived a few miles away in the suburb of Jaramana, came to visit them after not seeing them for six years.

“I don’t know how these six years passed,” Izdihar said. “Sometimes we used to ask ourselves how are we living here?”
 
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