Syrian army told Yarmouk Palestinians to leave

Palestinian refugees recently arrived in Lebanon from the Yarmouk camp in southern Damascus have claimed the Syrian army asked civilians to leave, amid fears of an escalation in violence there. The Syrian army would probably begin entering the “heart of the camp,” refugees claimed, after weeks of air strikes had not yielded any significant advance. One displaced Palestinian leader said: “The army asked the imam of the Bashir Mosque to appeal to people living inside Yarmouk to evacuate their homes, using loudspeakers, after the spread of clashes between opposition fighters and pro-government Popular Committee forces.” Syrian army units are reportedly stationed at strategic points around the camp, but have not entered because of the presence of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] fighters loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. PFLP forces are fighting in tandem with Syrian air support to attack positions belonging to the Free Syrian Army [FSA], which controls large areas on the southern outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus. International analysts announced on Sunday that government forces were securing an eight kilometre-wide radius around the capital, in an attempt to push rebel forces away from Damascus and into rural areas.