Syria’s Yarmouk Camp Liberated from ISIL’s Control

Palestinian fighters retook Syria’s Yarmouk camp from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Palestinian officials and a resident said Tuesday.

ISIL terrorists have retreated from much of the territory they seized in the camp in Southern Damascus after entering it on April 1, a resident using the pseudonym Samer said.

“We haven’t even seen any Daesh (ISIL) members in over three days,” he said.

The withdrawal was confirmed by an official from a pro-Syrian government Palestinian faction fighting against ISIL inside the camp.

“There are intermittent but ongoing clashes between Palestinian factions and ISIS (ISIL),” said Khaled Abdel Majid, head of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, adding that ISIL had withdrawn from most of the neighborhoods it previously controlled.

ISIL Takfiri militants were now confined largely to the Southwest of the camp, with Palestinian factions controlling most of the East and North of the camp, Palestinian sources said.

Abdel Majid said the Palestinian factions had established a “joint operations room” with government forces.

A Syrian security source in Damascus also said “the Palestinian factions have made progress and were able to recapture key points… and the operation is ongoing”.

Once home to some 160,000 Palestinian and some Syrian residents, Yarmouk’s population had shrunk to just 18,000 by the time ISIL entered the camp.

According to Palestinian sources, some 2,500 civilians have managed to escape the camp, but aid agencies and the United Nations have warned of a serious humanitarian crisis and urged all parties to allow the creation of a humanitarian corridor.