SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency) – Yarmouk was once a thriving district housing 160,000 Palestinian refugees and Syrians. But that was before it too was caught up in the widespread civil unrest which erupted in 2011. In late December 2012, Yarmouk – just 7 kms from central Damascus – became a battlefield between pro- and anti-government forces before a merciless siege began. The camp has been encircled for more than a year, but is now reported to be almost completely under the control of ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s local affiliate, the Nusra Front. According to Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, nearly 200 people had died in Yarmouk from malnutrition and lack of medicines before last week’s assault. The current situation in the al-Yarmouk refugee camp is a heartbreaking catastrophe. Since December 2012, tens of thousands of men, women and children, most of whom are Palestinian refugees, have been forced to flee and have had their lives torn apart by war. The 18,000 residents who remain in Yarmouk are in great danger from extremist groups, including Da’ish (ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State), that are seeking to take full control of the Camp. This camp has been in existence since 1948 and, during the four-year-long Syrian civil war, there was a time when there were as many as 150,000 refugees within it but that number has shrunk to about 16,000. The Syrian government and army have been trying to support and protect the refugees in Yarmouk from enemy attack but it is proving impossible to do because the threat is not just from IS; it is from the rebels that have also encircled the area and are fighting against the Assad regime. Now that IS has managed to penetrate the camp, there is danger from all sides and the misery of these already embattled people is only just about to get from very bad to worse.
In war, it is always the most innocent of civilians who suffer the most. Those who are caught in the conflict zones, women, children and the elderly, the most helpless, all become collateral damage. Who could be more vulnerable than the already beaten down, long suffering Palestinians? That IS has found a ‘comfortable’ home for itself among the Palestinians in Yarmouck is a frightening thought. News is already emerging of IS militants going to town on the Palestinian refugees with beheadings already starting. This is beyond monstrous. The tragic circumstances in the al-Yarmouk camp also serve as an important reminder that the Palestinian refugee question must be resolved. Palestinian refugees have suffered for far too long, and it is high time that their plight is recognized by the international community and put to an end in accordance with international law and conventions, including the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 and the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.”
