Residents flee clashes in Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus

Hundreds of residents of a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus fled Sunday amid shelling by government forces and clashes between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Palestinian fighters, activists said.

An activist based in an area just south of Damascus, Hatem al-Dimashqi, said many residents started fleeing the Yarmouk camp after midnight as the fighting let up. The camp has been subjected to intense shelling and airstrikes by the government.

The Britain-based advocacy group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and al-Dimashqi said those who fled the camp have reached the southern Damascus suburbs of Yalda, Babila and Beit Sahem, which are under rebel control.

Al-Dimashqi and Syrian state TV said as many as 2,000 people have left the camp. The activist said that many of those who fled the camp are staying in schools or abandoned homes.

The United Nations said on Sunday that some civilians were successfully evacuated from the camp. U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said 94 civilians, including 43 women and 20 children, made it out of the camp Sunday and were provided with humanitarian support.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in Ramallah that residents of Yarmouk have been victimized by Syria's civil war. Government forces and different rebel factions are clashing, and "we pay the price," he said.

He added that the Palestine Liberation Organization in Damascus has formed a "cell to handle this tragedy, and they are trying to work it out with the least losses."

ISIL fighters stormed the camp Wednesday, marking the group's deepest foray yet into the capital. Palestinian officials and Syrian activists said they were working with rivals from the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front. The two groups have fought bloody battles against each other in other parts of Syria, but appear to be cooperating in the attack on Yarmouk.

The Nusra Front said in a statement Sunday that it is not participating in the battles and is taking a neutral stance. The statement added that Nusra opened its offices and welcomed all those who do not want to take part in the fighting and gave them refuge.

The Observatory said the fighting has killed 26 people since the clashes first broke out.

In Gaza, several hundred supporters of the ruling Hamas group staged a march late Sunday in the Jebaliya refugee camp to protest the ISIL’s takeover of parts of Yarmouk.

"Palestinian blood is not cheap," Mohammed Abu Askar, a local Hamas leader, told the crowd, threatening revenge for the ISIL incursion into Yarmouk.

In Damascus, Anwar Raja, the spokesman for Damsascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, which supports embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said several pro-Assad factions have united to defend the camp. He said more than 100 civilians have been either killed or kidnapped by ISIL, which he said now control about half the camp.

The U.N. says around 18,000 civilians, including a large number of children, are trapped in Yarmouk. The camp has been under government siege for nearly two years, leading to starvation and illnesses caused by lack of medical aid. The camp has also witnessed several rounds of ferocious and deadly fighting between government forces and rebels.

Most of the camp's estimated 160,000 inhabitants fled in late 2012 as clashes erupted between pro- and anti-Assad Palestinian gunmen — many to overcrowded and destitute Palestinian refugee camps in neighboring Lebanon. Only the poorest remained behind.

Wire services