The camp in Yarmouk was reportedly taken by Daesh forces Saturday morning. However, Daesh received an unpleasant surprise when the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and their Palestinian allies from the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), and Fatah Al-Intifada reentered the Yarmouk Camp District after a short hiatus.
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Saturday it is "greatly alarmed and concerned by the desperate humanitarian consequences being inflicted on civilians" since the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) launched an attack on the al-Nusra Front militants 10 days ago.
According to Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesperson, there is a "sharp escalation of humanitarian need" in the area, warning that residents "are facing starvation and dehydration alongside the heightened risks of serious injury and death from the armed conflict".
The camp, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, was set up in 1957 to house Palestinians. The camp was home to some 160,000 Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011, refugees from the 1948 war of Israel's founding, and their descendants.
