More Palestinians killed at Yarmouk camp in Syria

Music video featuring Rim Banna & Henrik Koitzsch which portrays the faces of Palestinians at Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria’s capital Damascus, 7 November 2011. How many of these Palestinians have since been killed, injured, arrested and displaced by Bashar Assad’s dictatorship? How many of their families have been ripped apart by the regime’s atrocities?

 

by Ma’an News Agency in Bethlehem

19 September 2012

At least ten Palestinian refugees were killed Wednesday in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, activists posting to a camp Facebook account reported.

According to media inside Yarmouk, 15-year-old Jalal Yousif Salih was shot dead by a Syrian government sniper near the camp’s Palestine Hospital. Photos of the victim were published before he was identified.

Another victim, identified as 10-year-old Fadi Alaa al-Masri, was shot dead in the al-Zein neighborhood.

Earlier, a body was found in the Black Stone neighborhood. The victim was later identified as Muhammad Shaaban.

An elderly man was also shot dead in the Deir Yasin neighborhood, according to activists. They identified him as 70-year-old Ahmad Abbas.

Six other bodies were also found in Deir Yasin. Three of them were identified as Nafith Muhammad Abu Hassan, Husam Shihabi and Yasser Lahham.

Several bodies remained unidentified, according to activists, as forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar Assad shelled Yarmouk, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.

Meanwhile rebels seized their third border crossing with Turkey, a Turkish official said, after fierce battles with government troops overnight that sent bullets flying into Syria’s northern neighbor.

Television footage showed a rebel tearing down the Syrian flag on top of what appeared to be a customs building at the Tel Abyad frontier gate. Minutes earlier sporadic gunfire could be heard and black smoke rose from parts of the building.

“I can confirm that the gate has fallen. It is under the complete control of the rebels,” a Turkish official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

There was no sign of any government troops at the crossing from television pictures broadcast live on CNN Turk.