Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, several
Palestinian and Syrian members of
Hamas joined the rebellion against the Syrian government, and formed Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis. The group was only loosely affiliated to the
Syrian opposition, however, and its true allegiance remained with Hamas. Hamas, however, officially denied any links with Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis. The group was primarily active in the
Yarmouk Camp of
Damascus, which it defended alongside other insurgents from government attacks from 2013. It also had branches in
Quneitra and the
Daraa Governorate in southern Syria. Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis' faction in Daraa took part in a rebel offensive in September 2013 which aimed at capturing the Daraa border crossing. Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis battled the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, backed by
al-Nusra Front, in April 2015 and lost 90% of its territory in Yarmouk Camp. As result, Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis disintegrated, as the group was officially absorbed into the
Syrian government forces, while many of its members defected to the
Al-Nusra Front and
ISIL. In order to save the remainder of the group (by then reduced to 160 fighters), Hamas leader
Khaled Mashal reportedly contacted leading members of the
PFLP-GC,
Hezbollah, and the
Amal Movement to guarantee the safety of Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis' members. The group's Yarmouk branch consequently joined the Syrian government forces, and one of its commanders declared the entire group dissolved. Despite the events of April 2015, a faction of the group remained active in Yarmouk Camp and allied with the Syrian rebels. This faction rejected offers of reconciliation by the government in January 2017, though it, along with
Jaysh al-Islam and
Jaysh al-Ababil, signed a ceasefire agreement with government forces in October 2017. After most rebel factions in southern Damascus, including Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, initially rejected offers to be transported to insurgent-held areas in northern Syria, the government launched
an offensive from April 2018, aiming to retake all of southern Damascus. Amid this offensive, Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis clashed with the more numerous Palestinian pro-government militias in Yarmouk Camp. In the
2024 Syrian opposition offensives, the "general leader" of Aknaf Bait al-Maqdis and "dozens" of the group's fighters were freed from
Sednaya Prison by rebels. ==See also==