The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) listed him as number 3,353. But for his family he is Ahmad Fathi Othman, a Palestinian refugee from the Al-Nairab camp, south of Aleppo. Othman died on Thursday in a different camp, Handarat -- north of Aleppo -- in clashes between Syrian regime forces and their Palestinian allies on one side and Syrian rebels on the other. The Handarat camp, built in 1962, is one of the many Palestinian refugee camps scattered across the country. Five years into the Syrian civil war, Handarat, according to some reports, is now an abandoned camp left by its inhabitants. Militarily, it is a strategic area, handing control of the northern countryside to whoever controls it. The Hezbollah-affiliated news network al-Manar says the camp is geographically strategic for its hilltop position overlooking the surrounding areas. Regime control of the camp will mean a strengthening of a siege on rebel-held eastern Aleppo. For the last few days, the camp has changed hands between the Syrian regime forces and the rebels, often with conflicting reports. On Sunday, the Syrian rebels announced they regained control just a day after losing it to the Syrian Arab Army and Liwa al-Quds, or the Jerusalem Brigade, a Palestinian militia formed after the civil war. Al-Manar released some video of the Sunday operation by regime forces. It showed soldiers firing mortars and artillery into the town. The report said the assault was carried out “with an iron fist and fire, coupled with concentrated airstrikes.” The UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday night that regime forces remained in control of the camp, but added: “there are ongoing tense clashes between both sides.” Meanwhile, the Iranian Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Monday that the Jaish al-Fatah militia is in control of the camp. It said that Russian fighter jets conducted airstrikes against “terrorist” positions in Handarat. The news agency added that the Syrian army had sent reinforcements to the area to launch a fresh campaign to bring it back under its control. Liwa al-Quds is said to play a significant role in the operation by the Syrian regime. Like the Syrians, the Palestinian refugees -- many of them second- or third- generation refugees -- have been divided between those who support the regime, those who oppose it and those caught up in the fighting. While Liwa al-Quds is allied with the regime, the prominent Palestinian Hamas organization, which had a strong presence in Syria before the civil war, soon declared its support for the demands of the Syrian people against the Assad regime in 2012. The AGPS, which documents Palestinian casualties, has documented 3,355 cases of deaths, disappearances and imprisonment at the time of writing this report. It said many of the dead were killed by bombings. Hezbollah’s al-Manar said the US-backed Nuradin Zangi Brigade took Handarat as its stronghold in the past. This group came under much scrutiny when a video went viral last July showing its fighters beheading a child whom they accused of providing information to pro-Assad forces, in particular Liwa al-Quds. The Nuradin Zangi Bridage said in a statement following the beheading that the killing was “an isolated error” which does not reflect the group’s general policy. Liwa al-Quds identified the child as the 12-year-old Palestinian child refugee as Abdullah Isa. His identity was later challenged. Othman died in the Handarat Camp reportedly fighting alongside Liwa al-Quds, according to AGPS, which recorded his death. More than half a million Palestinian refugees had lived in Syria before the civil war, but the number dropped to just 450,000 last August. The rest left for neighboring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan or left for Europe, according to UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). For those who are still in Syria, two-thirds are displaced and almost all are reported to need assistance.
