רמה כ ז מל ו תשר מה ו ד י ע י ן ה ש ל מ ( ( למ מ"ל Spotlight on Global Jihad April 26 – May 2, 2018 Main events of the week This week, the Syrian army recorded achievements in its campaign to take over the southern suburbs of Damascus from ISIS. The Syrian army forces advanced inside the Yarmouk refugee camp and took control of most of the Al-Qadam neighborhood to its west. In addition, the Syrian army took control of part of the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood, south of the Yarmouk refugee camp. The Syrian army’s advance is supported by artillery fire and airstrikes, causing civilian casualties (36 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the campaign). The operatives of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham, a jihadi organization and one of ISIS’s rivals, began to leave the Yarmouk refugee camp for the Idlib region after reaching an evacuation agreement with the Syrian regime. In eastern Syria, the US-backed SDF launched an operation called “Island Storm.” Its goal is to mop up the border area between Syria and Iraq from the presence of ISIS operatives. Afghanistan continues to be the only arena where ISIS systematically initiates attacks against its opponents, in contrast to other countries where ISIS is on the defensive. This week, ISIS carried out a number of attacks, the most prominent of which was a double suicide bombing attack in the compound of the Afghan National Directorate of Security, which is a preferred target of ISIS. This elaborate attack was carried out in stages: first a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the compound. When journalists arrived to cover the incident, a second suicide bomber, posing as a photographer, blew himself up. Around 30 people were reportedly killed in the attack, nine of them media people. 113-18 2 Syria The campaign to take over the southern suburbs of Damascus The Syrian army continues its campaign to take over the southern suburbs of Damascus held by ISIS, mainly the Yarmouk refugee camp. At this stage, it seems that the Syrian army has had quite a few achievements: According to the Syrian News Agency, ISIS has lost control of most of the Al-Qadam neighborhood (west of the Yarmouk refugee camp) and part of the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood (south of the Yarmouk refugee camp). The Syrian army proceeds while using artillery bombardment and airstrikes against ISIS targets and routes by which ISIS and other organizations transfer operatives and supplies. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that since the beginning of the campaign, 36 civilians were killed, as well as at least 85 Syrian army soldiers and operatives of the militias supporting it, and 74 ISIS operatives (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, April 29, 2018). ISIS control areas in the Yarmouk refugee camp (center) and the neighborhoods surrounding it, as published by Amaq News Agency before the beginning of the campaign (Akhbar Al-Muslimeen, March 20, 2018). The Syrian attack mainly targets the Yarmouk refugee camp (center) and the Al- Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood (bottom, south of the Yarmouk refugee camp) 113-18 3 Fighting in the Al-Qadam neighborhood Right: Syrian army soldiers in the Al-Madhaniya neighborhood, south of the Al-Qadam neighborhood. Left: Syrian army soldiers in the Al-Madhaniya neighborhood. An embankment and a checkpoint set up by ISIS in the neighborhood are visible in the background (SANA, April 28, 2018) Right: Syrian army soldiers celebrating in the Al-Madhaniya neighborhood after its takeover. Left: Part of an ISIS network of tunnels exposed by the Syrian army in the Al-Madhaniya neighborhood (SANA, April 28, 2018) Right: Syrian army soldier inside a fortified position in the Al-Asali neighborhood, in the southern part of the Al-Qadam neighborhood. Left: A bus serving as a roadblock in the Al-Asali neighborhood (SANA, April 29, 2018) The attack on the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood The Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood, south of the Yarmouk refugee camp, is an important ISIS stronghold. The Syrian army entered the neighborhood on April 27, 2018, and advanced there using several routes at the same time. Due to the battles, families of ISIS 113-18 4 operatives fled the neighborhood (and the Yarmouk refugee camp) to the villages of Yalda and Babila, east of the neighborhood. The Syrian forces attacked these supply and escape routes, and as a result, traffic and supplies from Al-Hajar Al-Aswad towards the east stopped ("Al-Yarmouk camp is in our hearts" Facebook page, April 27, 2018; Butulat Al-Jaysh Al-Suri, April 25, 2018). An agreement has reportedly been achieved to evacuate the rebel organizations’ operatives and the civilians from these two neighborhoods and from another neighborhood (Beit Sahm) to the areas of Idlib and Daraa (Mukhayyam Al-Yarmouk News, April 29, 2018). Fighting tactics in the Yarmouk refugee camp The Syrian army attacked ISIS operatives in the Yarmouk refugee camp while using bulldozers and tanks to blaze trails in the camp. On April 29, 2018, the Syrian army released a video showing a bulldozer and tanks of the Syrian army working in the refugee camp. The bulldozer was seen blazing a route for the tanks in the narrow streets and breaking through earth embankments to enable the tanks to pass through them and shell ISIS operatives in the camp (haol alaalam 24 YouTube Channel, April 29, 2018). Right: Bulldozer near Syrian army tanks in one of the streets in the Yarmouk refugee camp. Left: Syrian army bulldozer blazing the way for the tanks to advance through an embankment in the Yarmouk refugee camp (haol alaalam 24 YouTube Channel, April 29, 2018) Right: Syrian army tank in the Yarmouk refugee camp attacking ISIS targets after a bulldozer blazed a way for it to pass through an embankment (haol alaalam 24 YouTube Channel). Left: Syrian army soldiers advancing in the Yarmouk refugee camp under the protection of a tank (the soldier Wassim Eissa’s YouTube channel, April 27, 2018) 113-18 5 Right: Tank of the Syrian army’s Republican Guard Brigade. Left: Syrian army tank attacking targets of ISIS and the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham (the soldier Wassim Eissa’s YouTube channel, April 27, 2018) ISIS’s version of the fighting in south Damascus On May 1, 2018, ISIS announced that its operatives had killed 30 Syrian soldiers who tried to advance to the outskirts of the Yarmouk refugee camp and to the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood. ISIS released photos of the execution of a Syrian officer captured in the fighting (Haqq, May 1, 2018). ISIS’s Amaq News Agency announced that the organization’s operatives had halted a Syrian army attack in the Al-Tadamon neighborhood (north of the Yarmouk refugee camp). ISIS also announced that 16 Syrian army soldiers had been killed by sniper fire in the fighting in the neighborhoods of south Damascus (Haqq, April 29, 2018). Preparations for the execution of a Syrian officer (Haqq, May 1, 2018) ISIS’s Damascus Province released a video entitled “The Muslims are [one] Camp”. The video documents fighting by ISIS operatives against the Syrian army and ISIS’s rival organization, the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham. The video contains harsh criticism of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham for evacuating areas in the neighborhoods south of Damascus and surrendering them to the Syrian regime instead 113-18 6 of ISIS. The video calls on ISIS operatives to continue fighting while believing in their just cause. It also calls on all Muslims to join them (Haqq, April 28, 2018). From the video: ISIS operatives fighting in south Damascus (Haqq, April 28, 2018) Evacuation agreement of operatives of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham According to Syrian TV, an agreement was reached, according to which operatives of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham would be evacuated to Idlib in two stages. At the background of the agreement is the evident inferiority of the operatives of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham in south Damascus against the Syrian army, and their reluctance to fight alongside ISIS (the organization’s relations with ISIS are still tense in spite of the Syrian army’s attack). The implementation of the evacuation agreement started on April 30, 2018. The evacuation agreement, as stated above, includes two phases: As part of the first phase, operatives of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham will be evacuated from the Yarmouk refugee camp to Idlib. In return for this move, residents of the besieged Shiite villages of Kafraya and Al-Fu’ah (about 7 km northeast of Idlib) will be allowed to evacuate 1,200 inhabitants (out of about 5,000) from the villages. The rest of the besieged residents (about 3,500) will be evacuated in the second phase of the agreement. In addition, it was stipulated that 85 residents of the village of Ashtabraq, about 29 km southwest of Idlib (near Jisr Al-Shughur), would be returned to the Syrian army. The village has been besieged by the rebel organizations (Syrian TV; SANA, April 29, 2018). The implementation of the agreement started on April 30, 2018. On that day, five buses with evacuees left the Yarmouk refugee camp. They included dozens of operatives of the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham (SANA, April 30, 2018). At the same time, dozens 113-18 7 of buses entered the villages of Al-Fu'ah and Kafraya in order to evacuate about 1,500 residents (Al-Durar Al-Shamiya, April 30, 2018).