Military operation ‘necessary’ to expel ISIL from Yarmouk: Syria

Damascus says its troops could be involved in repelling the extremists from the Palestinian refugee camp, which is located just miles from the heart of the capital

Palestinian families are pictured at a makeshift refugee centre in Damascus, Syria on April 5, 2015 after having been evacuated from Yarmouk. SANA handout/EPA

DAMASCUS // A military operation is necessary to expel ISIL fighters from the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in south Damascus, Syria’s reconciliation minister said on Wednesday.

“The priority now is to expel and defeat militants and terrorists in the camp. Under the present circumstances, a military solution is necessary,” minister Ali Haidar said in Damascus.

He made the comments after meeting Palestine Liberation Organisation official Ahmed Majdalani, who travelled from the West Bank for emergency talks on the situation in the embattled Yarmouk camp.

“It is not the state that has chosen this, but those who entered the camp,” said Mr Haidar, referring to fighters from the extremist group.

Mr Haidar did not spell out when a military operation might begin, or how it would be waged, but he suggested that Syrian troops could be involved.

“The Syrian state will decide whether the battle requires it,” he said, when asked if Syrian soldiers would participate in any operation.

ISIL forces attacked Yarmouk on April 1, and have seized large swathes of the camp, executing Palestinian fighters who sought to resist.

The group’s presence in Yarmouk has sparked international concern for the camp’s remaining residents, who have endured repeated bombardment and a siege of more than 18 months by the army.

The Syrian government and residents of the capital have been rattled by the presence of ISIL militants just miles from the heart of Damascus.

Once a thriving district that was home to some 160,000 Syrian and Palestinian residents, Yarmouk has been wracked by violence since late 2012.

The Syrian army imposed a tight siege on the camp that reportedly led to deaths because of food and medicine shortages.

An agreement between rebels and the government, backed by Palestinian factions in the camp, was reached last year and led to an easing of the siege, although humanitarian access has remained limited.

Since last week’s ISIL attack, Palestinian forces backed by some Syrian rebels have sought to push back the extremists, while regime aircraft and artillery have pounded the camp.

Yarmouk’s population had dwindled to around 18,000 before the ISIL attack but some 2,500 have managed to escape in the past week.

On Monday, the UN Security Council called for humanitarian access to the camp, and Palestinian officials have urged that its residents be protected.

Meanwhile, the toll from two alleged ISIL car bombings of rebels in Syria’s Aleppo province had risen to at least 32 people, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.

Three local commanders were killed in one of the attacks, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, describing the incidents as an apparent ISIL attempt to expand in the northern province.

The commanders were from the conservative Jabhat Shamiya and Jaish Al Mujahideen groups, and Jabhat Al Nusra, Al-Qaeda’s official affiliate in Syria.

* Agence France-Presse