Israel Matzav

'Palestinians' flee Yarmouk, world is silent

95% of the residents have fled the Yarmouk 'refugee camp' in Syria in the face of fighting between forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad and Islamist rebels. The world remains silent.

The Palestinian ambassador said on Tuesday over 95 percent of Palestinians in the Syrian refugee camp of Yarmouk have fled, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.

Mahmud al-Khalidi told Ma'an refugees fled to UNRWA schools after fighting raged for days in the district on the southern edge of President Bashar Assad's Damascus powerbase, rebel and Palestinian sources said.

According to Ma'an, Al-Khalidi requested the Syrian Foreign Ministry to end airstrikes on the camp, but officials insisted rebels must leave the camp first.

The battle had pitted rebels, backed by some Palestinians, against Palestinian fighters of the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

Many PFLP-GC fighters defected to the rebel side and their leader Ahmed Jibril left the camp two days ago, rebel sources said.

"All of the camp is under the control of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army," said a Palestinian activist in Yarmouk. He said clashes had stopped and the remaining PFLP fighters retreated to join Assad's forces massed on the northern edge of the camp.

...

Government forces have used jets and artillery to try to dislodge the fighters but the violence has crept into the heart of the city and activists say rebels overran three army stations in a new offensive in the central province of Hama on Monday.

On the border with Lebanon, hundreds of Palestinian families fled across the frontier following the weekend violence in Yarmouk, a Reuters witness said.

Syria hosts half a million Palestinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, descendants of those admitted after the creation of Israel in 1948, and has always cast itself as a champion of the Palestinian struggle, sponsoring several guerrilla factions.

Both Assad's government and the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels have enlisted and armed divided Palestinian factions as the uprising has developed into a civil war.

The Times of Israel adds:

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says heavy battles are under way Tuesday in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, in southern Damascus.

The Observatory says the fighting is forcing Palestinian refugees and Syrians who came to Yarmouk to escape violence elsewhere in the country to flee the camp.

When the revolt against Assad’s rule unrest began in March 2011, the half-million-strong Palestinian community in Syria tried to stay on the sidelines.

As the civil war deepened, most Palestinians backed the rebels, though some groups — such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command — have been fighting on the government side.

Just keep it on your own side of the border boys.... 

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Free Syrian Army, Palestinian refugees, Syrian uprising

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:37 PM