Syria said it is ready to offer Palestinians its
firepower to support their battle with the Islamic State group in a
refugee camp devastated by clashes and aerial attacks.
The deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Yarmuk camp
has pushed the UN Security Council to demand greater access to
residents trapped between the encroaching IS jihadists and besieging
government forces.
The fierce clashes that began on April 1 have ceased, but
regime forces continue to drop barrel bombs on the camp, which lies six
kilometres (3.5 miles) from central Damascus.
In the capital, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad met
with a delegation from the Palestine Liberation Organisation headed by
Ahmad Majdalani.
"Syrian authorities are ready to support the Palestinian
fighters in a number of ways, including militarily, to push IS out of
the camp," said PLO official Anwar Abdul Hadi, who was at the meetings.
The "Syrian government had used all its efforts to present
humanitarian and medical aid to Palestinian refugees and ... it had
helped them exit Yarmuk safely," Meqdad said.
"Syria and the PLO are determined to fight terrorism, which
has reached Palestinian camps in Syria, notably Yarmuk," he said,
quoted by the official SANA news agency.
Speaking after meeting with Meqdad, Majdalani told AFP they
had "agreed on the need for a unified position for the Palestinian
forces in Syria, in coordination with the Syrian government."
He said there would be continued cooperation between Syrian and Palestinian leaders "to defeat terrorism in Yarmuk".
A meeting among Syria's Palestinian factions is set for Wednesday to discuss a broader consensus
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