The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

State Of Syrian Refugee Camp Under ISIS Attack Is ‘Beyond Inhumane,’ UN Official Says

BEIRUT (AP) — Palestinian fighters clashed with Islamic State militants Monday in a heavily contested Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital as a United Nations official described the situation in the embattled camp as “beyond inhumane.”

The fighting in the Yarmouk camp began on Wednesday when the Islamic State group muscled into the camp, marking the extremists’ deepest foray yet into Damascus. The assault touched off ferocious fighting that has added yet another layer of misery for the some 18,000 residents who have already endured desperate conditions marked by a lack of basic food, medicine and water.

Hatem al-Dimashqi, an activist based in an area just south of Damascus, said the Yarmouk camp was under attack Monday. Both al-Dimashqi and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said Syrian government aircraft has been shelling the camp and dropping barrel bombs since Sunday.

 

The fighting inside the camp has largely pitted the Islamic State group against Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, a Palestinian faction opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman estimated that the Islamic State group now controls as much as 90 percent of Yarmouk, slowly squeezing Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis out.

Palestinian officials and Syrian activists say the Islamic State militants fighting in Yarmouk were working with rivals from the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front. The two groups have fought bloody battles against each other in other parts of Syria, but appear to be cooperating in the attack on Yarmouk.

Nusra said in a statement it is taking a neutral stance in the camp.

Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, told The Associated Press in Barcelona late Sunday that the agency has not been able to send any food or convoys into the camp since the fighting started.

“That means that there is no food, there is no water and there is very little medicine,” he said. “The situation in the camp is beyond inhumane. People are holed up in their houses, there is fighting going on in the streets. There are reports of … bombardments. This has to stop and civilians must be evacuated.”

He said 93 people have been evacuated from the camp so far.

The United Nations says around 18,000 civilians, including a large number of children, are trapped in Yarmouk. The camp has been under government siege for nearly two years, leading to starvation and illnesses. The camp also has witnessed several rounds of ferocious and deadly fighting between government forces and anti-Assad militants.

“Things were bad and things got worse when the fighting engulfed the camp,” Gunness said.

 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/yarmouk-camp-isis_n_7009888.html