ISIS Takeover of Damascus Camp Has More Palestinian Families Fleeing

Hamas Holds Gaza Rally Against ISIS Takeover

Several days of ISIS attacks have left them in control of some 90% of the Yarmouk refugee camp in metro Damascus, as many as 2,000 more Palestinians have fled the fighting.

The Yarmouk camp, practically treated as a suburb of Damascus before the civil war, once had 200,000 residents, though now there are few more than 10,000 civilians left, with many fleeing to Lebanon.

ISIS has been facing resistance from PLO fighters as well as factions affiliated with Hamas, and on Thursday they began to retake parts of the camp. ISIS turned the tables pretty quickly and is amassing new gains.

Over the weekend, Hamas held a rally in the Gaza Strip protesting against the ISIS takeover of the camp, demanding that the various factions in Syria leave the refugee camps alone.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.