2,000 evacuated from Syria's Yarmuk refugee camp: Official

A Palestinian official says an estimated 2,000 people have been evacuated from the Syria-based Palestinian Yarmuk refugee camp near the capital, Damascus, following an incursion by ISIL terrorists.

“Around 400 families, approximately 2,000 people, were able to leave the camp on Friday and Saturday via two secure roads to the Zahira district, which is under army control,” said Anwar Abdul Hadi, a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official, on Sunday.

According to Abdul Hadi, Syrian government troops had assisted in the evacuation of the residents of the camp as Palestinian forces continued the battle to hold off the Takfiri ISIL elements, who have captured large sections of the refugee camp since last Wednesday.

He said most of the residents evacuated from the Palestinian camp were being hosted in shelters provided by the Syrian government, while at least 25 of those injured in the clashes were taken to two hospitals in Damascus.

Meanwhile, a UK-based monitoring group tied to the Western-backed Syrian opposition groups confirmed the evacuation of “hundreds” from the camp.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that at least 26 individuals, including civilians as well as Palestinian fighters and the Takfiri terrorists, have been killed in the refugee camp since the clashes began on Wednesday.

The development came as hundreds of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip took part in a rally sponsored by the Hamas resistance movement, condemning ISIL atrocities in the Yarmuk camp and calling on the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to use its leverage to bring an end to the standoff.

The ISIL militants launched an attack on the camp on April 1 and are reportedly cooperating with rival terrorists from the al-Nusra Front, despite the fact that they are engaged in clashes with each other elsewhere in Syria.

The UN says nearly 18,000 civilians, including a large number of children, are caught in Yarmuk.

Yarmuk, once hosting tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees as well as Syrians, has turned into a ghost town as a result of the violent attacks by anti-government militants over the past four years of turmoil in Syria.

ISIL was in control of the camp until 2014, when a deal with the government led to the withdrawal of the terrorists. The Syrian army has since then besieged the camp as it has turned into a major bastion for spreading anti-government militancy by al-Qaeda-linked groups.

Activists said on Saturday that Palestinian forces have started a counteroffensive in a bid to force the Takfiri militants from the camp.

The violence in Syria, fueled by foreign-backed Takfiri groups, including ISIL, has claimed the lives of over 215,000 people since March 2011, according to reports.

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