Camp has no functioning hospital or running water and very little electricity

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The Pro-Assad Outlets Behind US Politician Kucinich’s Syria Appearances

Activists say about 60% of the Yarmouk camp, in the south of Syria’s capital Damascus, has been destroyed amid a pro-Assad offensive against the Islamic State.

Citing an eyewitness, the UK-based Action Group for Palestinians of Syria said Friday that the destruction has largely been caused by barrel bombs, missiles, and shelling. It claimed that the death toll had risen to 31, where about 3,000 displaced Palestinians remain after six years of fighting and siege.

The Assad regime’s forces and allied foreign Palestinian and foreign militia launched their offensive on April 19 in Yarmouk and neighboring al-Hajar al-Aswad against ISIS and a smaller group from the jihadist bloc Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

On Thursday, Palestinian party Hamas appealed to all sides to cease fire while the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, warned of “catastrophic consequences”. UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said:

Yarmouk and its inhabitants have endured indescribable pain and suffering over years of conflict.

We are deeply concerned about the fate of thousands of civilians, including Palestine refugees, after more than a week of dramatically increased violence.

The Islamic State has been in control of the camp since early 2015, when it pushed out rebels who had held the area since 2012 despite the Assad regime’s bombardment and a siege that threatened residents with starvation and death from lack of medical care.

Before the Syrian uprising, about 200,000 people — most of them displaced Palestinians — lived in Yarmouk.

UNRWA said there is no longer a functioning hospital or running water and “very little” electricity in the camps. Action Group for Palestinians said thousands of homes have been damaged.

Soon after the offensive began, pro-Assad outlets falsely proclaimed victory, but the Islamic State has continued its resistance. State news agency SANA said on Thursday that pro-Assad forces had killed “dozens of terrorists”.

Syrian State TV coverage of the offensive:

Assad Regime Tries to Push Back Reports of Widespread Property Confiscation

The Assad regime has tried to push back reports of its widespread confiscation of property, including family homes.

The Secretary of the Syrian People’s Council, Khaled Abboud, told Russian State outlet Sputnik, “There is no decree on this subject. And, in my opinion, such a decree would violate the Constitution….Areas are being returned to the Syrian army, which represents the Syrian government, which is responsible for its citizens.”

Under Law 10, issued by the Assad regime on April 2, people have 30 days to prove ownership of house and land by presenting deeds to local council offices, or risk confiscation and sale of their property at auction.

Syrian refugees and those displaced inside the country have spoken of the impossibility of meeting the requirement. Others are trying to cope with deeds which have been lost or destroyed during the conflict.

Speaking from Amman in Jordan, refugee Salim Muhammad said of his home in southern Homs Province, “I always held out hope that we could go back. This decree has destroyed all chance of that.”

The Twitter account of a New York banker connected with the regime tries to justify the confiscation: