Al-Qaeda affiliated Islamist group in Syria bombs town in Hama, pushed back by ISIS in Yarmouk

CB Condez Tuesday, April 26, 2016

A town in Hama, Syria was bombed Sunday by an Islamist group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda militant organization.

Members of al Qaeda's Nusra Front gesture as they drive in a convoy touring villages, which they said they have seized control of from Syrian rebel factions, in the southern countryside of Idlib, December 2, 2014. Picture taken December 2, 2014. | REUTERS/KHALIL ASHAWI

"Nusra fighters, backed by rebels of the Ahrar al-Sham, shelled Sqelbiya with at least 14 mortars on Sunday," Abboud Sarkis, a media activist, told ARA News.

According to the report, four civilians died and nine other were injured when the bombers attacked the residential area in the town of Sqelbiya.

"Also, the bombardment has caused mass destruction in residential buildings, and rescue teams are still looking for victims under the rubble," Sarkis said.

Christians comprise the majority of residents in the town, which is under the control of the Syrian government. Islamists have reportedly been trying to take hold of the town because of its strategic location.

Meanwhile, in Damascus, the Nusra Front and its rival jidahist group Islamic State have been fighting over the Yarmouk refugee camp, which, according to The Long War Journal, once served as home to at least 100,000 Palestinian and Syrian refugees. Amaq News Agency, IS's propaganda media outlet, said on April 14 through an infographic that they control 30 percent of Yarmouk and 70 percent of what it called the nearby "Palestine Camp."

While it's difficult to ascertain if Amaq's claims are accurate, Newsweek reported Friday that IS's 2,000 to 3,000 fighters outnumber those of Nusra, estimated to be in the hundreds. Both camps reportedly behead their rivals.

Anwar Abdel Hadi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Damascus, told Agence France-Presse, "Daesh [Islamic State] has chased Al Nusra[h], its former ally in the Yarmouk camp, from 90 percent of the territory it controlled."

Elsewhere, Al Qaeda has lost a strategic location. On Monday, Yemeni forces and its United Arab Emirates allies took back an oil export terminal in Ash Ishir, the largest one in Yemen. According to The New York Times, the day before, the government troops first took control of the seaport and airport in Al Mukalla, 42 miles from Ash Ishir.