Middle East

Yarmouk camp evacuation after Islamic State gains in Syria

Group has captured most of the Palestinian refugee settlement near Damascus

A gathering in solidarity with the Palestinians living in Syria’s Yarmouk camp outside Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) headquarters in the West Bank. Some civilians have been evacuated from the camp following Islamic State gains in Yarmouk. Photograph: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images

Sun Apr 5 2015 - 15:49

Some civilians were evacuated from a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus, the United Nations said, fleeing an advance by Islamic State.

Islamic State has taken most of Yarmouk camp from rival insurgents while the Syrian army surrounds the district, only a few kilometres from president Bashar al-Assad's palace.

UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) spokesman Chris Gunness said 94 civilians, including 43 women and 20 children, made it out of the camp and were provided with humanitarian support.

There are still 18,000 people in the camp, a mixture of Palestinians and Syrians, according to Unrwa. Yarmouk became a battleground before the siege, and has been devastated by street fighting, air attacks and shelling.

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Hundreds flee

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said hundreds had fled over the past two days.

“There have been some civilians who were able to flee the camp earlier today and we call on all parties to show maximum restraint so other civilians who wish to leave can be evacuated,” Mr Gunness said.

The Observatory said the Syrian air force dropped crudely-made barrel bombs on Yarmouk. Syrian state media did not report that civilians had been evacuated.

Saeb Erekat, from the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), called on Saturday for the evacuation of civilians, saying that "reports of kidnappings, beheadings and mass killings are coming out from Yarmouk".

Islamic State rules swathes of eastern Syria and Iraq and is the target of a US-led campaign of air strikes.

The group posted photos today of its fighters inside the camp. It also showed a photo of 13 men kneeling and facing a wall. The caption described them as rival fighters from Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, an anti-Assad militia made up of Syrians and Palestinians from the camp.

Yarmouk was home to half a million Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011. The war has killed 220,000 people and displaced millions.

Reuters

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