Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
fighters have largely withdrawn from a Paleostinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus after expelling their main rival, several residents and a Paleostinian official said on Wednesday.
The pull-out from Yarmouk leaves al-Qaeda-linked Nusra as the main group inside the camp.
The sources said hundreds of fighters of the hardline Islamic State had returned to their stronghold in neighbouring Hajar al Aswad, from where they had launched their attack earlier this month.
"Most of them have withdrawn in mostly to-and-fro skirmishes that took place between them and their advesaries," resident Abu Ahmad Hawari said.
Alongside seeking to capture the camp, they sought to defeat their rival, the Hamas-linked Aknaf al Maqdis, an opposition group that was ideologically opposed to them.
Aknaf Beit al Maqdis, meanwhile, claimed they forced the Islamic State fighters' retreat from the camp.
Sami Hamzawi, a Paleostinian activist from the camp who currently lives outside Syria, said the Aknaf Beit al Maqdis group has captured several buildings and is currently advancing from areas it holds northeast of Yarmouk.
Islamic State's arrival in Yarmouk had given the jihadist group a significant foothold a few kilometers from Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
's seat of power.
The group was still fighting some of the remaining Aknaf al Maqdis fighters in the northern entrance of the camp at the junction of the main Paleostine and Yarmouk streets, two residents said.
The withdrawal leaves al-Qaeda offshoot al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
as the biggest force in the camp, many of whose residents have fled since Islamic State launched its offensive, they added.
The Paleostine Liberation Organization envoy to Damascus said that Nusra was now the main group in the camp.
"They and Nusra are one. They are changing positions," Anwar Abdul Hadi told Rooters.
Nusra was accused by its rivals of facilitating the entry of Islamic State
But Nusra, unlike Islamic State, was not ready to push its rivalry to a military confrontation and did not engage in the latest round of fighting in Yarmouk, according to residents.