When hundreds of Islamic State militants muscled into the Yarmouk
refugee camp last week and planted their black flags amid the charred,
blown-out buildings, it was the latest trial for the remaining
Palestinians who for two years have endured a suffocating government
siege, starvation and disease.
The dire situation in the camp appears certain to deteriorate as the
extremist group looks to consolidate its hold and establish a presence
near the heart of the Syrian capital.
It is a high-stakes fight whose outcome may determine the direction of
the civil war around Damascus, where President Bashar Assad has
maintained a firm grip despite the presence of thousands of rebels in
surrounding suburbs.
"The situation is catastrophic. There is barely food and water, and the
only functioning hospital has long run out of medication," said a
resident of the camp who communicated by writing on condition of
anonymity Wednesday because of safety fears.
Heavy clashes continued in the camp, a week after extremists from the
Islamic State group burst in from the Hajar Aswad district south of
Damascus. They had settled in that area after being pushed out of
regions east of the capital by Islamic rebels last year.
At least 18 civilians, including a humanitarian worker and a
12-year-old, have been killed in Yarmouk in the past week since IS
attacked, Amnesty International said. One of Yarmouk's two surviving
medical facilities, the Palestine Hospital, was struck April 1 by a
missile, injuring six volunteers, it added.
"For civilians still trapped in Yarmouk, life is an agonizing struggle
for survival. After enduring a crippling two-year-long
government-imposed siege, now they are pinned down by sniper fire,
fearing for their lives, as shelling and aerial attacks escalate," said
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy Middle East and North Africa director.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters the situation remains
"extremely tense" for the 18,000 men, women and children trapped in the
camp without safe access to water, food and basic health care. "In
Yarmouk, where the fighting has been going on, it's a very urban
setting, close-quarter fighting," he added.
The Islamic State group has created a fiefdom in areas straddling the
Syria-Iraq border after declaring a self-styled caliphate last year. But
prior to the assault on Yarmouk that began April 1, it did not have
much of a presence in Damascus.
If it succeeds in maintaining its hold over Yarmouk and attracting more
fighters to its cause, the group could use it as a gateway into central
Damascus. It also gives the group a potential sanctuary where forces of
the U.S.-led coalition were unlikely
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Cabinet minister Ali Haidar said Wednesday the Syrian government's "top
priority" was to expel IS from the camp, indicating a large-scale
military operation was looming.
"The Syrian state is not the party that chose the military solution, but
rather those who had overrun the camp," he said. He spoke with
reporters after a meeting with Palestinian Labor Minister Ahmad
Majdalani, who was sent to Damascus this week to try to deal with the
situation.
Salim Salameh, the Sweden-based head of the Palestinian League for Human
Rights-Syria and a former Yarmouk resident, said he feared the military
option will prevail, worsening an already catastrophic situation.
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