UN URGES AID ACCESS TO SYRIA’S YARMOUK

New York, 2 Rajab 1436/21 April 2015 (MINA) – The UN Security Council (UNSC) has called for humanitarian access to Palestinian refugees trapped inside Syria’s violence-hit camp of Yarmouk, which has come under severe attacks by Takfiri militants.

The 15-member council on Monday demanded that militants with the ISIL terror group and Al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front pull out from the camp and aid workers be allowed to distribute food and other supplies to refugees. The council also called for USD 30 million in aid to assist the refugees of the camp.

According to a statement, the council urged “unhindered humanitarian access to the Yarmouk camp and for the protection of civilians inside the camp.” Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

ISIL terrorists with assistance from al-Nusra Takfiris stormed Yarmouk on April 1, capturing large part of the camp in the Syrian capital city of Damascus. Reports say that nearly 18,000 Palestinians, including 3,500 children, are caught in the fighting.

Since then, various Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, have joined the fighting to drive the ISIL elements out of the camp.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), who has recently visited the area in Damascus, also presented his report to the council.

In later comments to reporters, he described the situation in Yarmouk as “very extreme in both circumstances and hardship.”

The UN official also suggested that a Security Council delegation travel to Yarmouk, located just seven kilometers (four miles) from Damascus, to get a first-hand look at the situation.

Once home to 160,000 Syrians as well as Palestinian residents, Yarmouk’s population has dwindled since a foreign-backed war struck across the country in March 2011. (T/P002/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)