Yarmouk Camp

Yarmouk (Arabic: مُخَيَّم ٱلْيَرْمُوْك / ALA-LC: Muḵayyam al-Yarmūk, IPA: [mu.xaj.jam al.yær.mʊ:k]) is a 2.11-square-kilometer (520-acre) district of the city of Damascus, populated by Palestinians, with hospitals and schools. It is located 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) from the center of Damascus and within municipal boundaries (but not initially when established in 1957). Yarmouk is an "unofficial" refugee camp. Now depopulated, it was home to the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria. As of June 2002, there were 112,550 registered refugees living in Yarmouk. During the Syrian Civil War, Yarmouk camp became the scene of intense fighting in 2012 between the Free Syrian Army and the PFLP-GC supported by Syrian Army government forces. The camp then was consequently taken over by various factions and was deprived of supplies, resulting in hunger, diseases and a high death rate, which caused many to leave. By the end of 2014, the camp population had gone down to just 20,000 residents. In early April 2015, most of the Yarmouk camp was overrun by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, sparking armed clashes with Palestinian militia Aknaf Bait al-Maqdis. At this point, the population was estimated at 18,000. After intense fighting in April/May 2018, Syrian government forces took the camp, its population now reduced to 100-200. As of 2022, Palestinians have begun to return, but the population remains far from its pre-war peak. From Wikipedia