Current tensions "more desperate than ever" for Palestinian refugees in Syria: UN official

A senior UN official on Monday described the current escalation in Syria as "more desperate than ever" for Palestinian refugees who are being housed in a camp outside Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Pierre Krahenbuhl, also called upon all parties to exercise maximum restraint and abide by their obligations under international law to protect civilians while briefing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the dire situation in the Yarmouk camp in Damascus, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric at a daily news briefing here.

"He (Mr. Krahenbuhl) updated the secretary-general on what is going on the ground and the extreme suffering we are seeing of Palestinian refugees trapped in the camp," the spokesman said, adding "Mr. Krahenbuhl also briefed the (UN) Security Council in closed consultations via videoconference from Amman, Jordan."

"The situation has been turned upside down. Currently, it's simply too dangerous to access Yarmouk," Krahenbuhl was quoted as saying..

"Right now, what is on the mind of people at Yarmouk is bare survival," he said, recalling his visit to the camp several weeks ago. "I just saw people waking up with so much despair in their eyes, waiting for their meagre assistance."

He spoke of "unbearable suffering" that he saw and civilians queuing up in line to get aid, scenes of elderly people saying that they're hungry, and a pregnant woman in the queue fainting.

Over the weekend, UNRWA issued a statement in which it said that never has the hour been more desperate in Yarmouk, strongly appealing to all armed actors to cease hostilities that place civilians in acute danger and to withdraw immediately from civilian populated areas.

UNRWA demanded that all parties exercise maximum restraint and abide by their obligations under international law to protect civilians," the spokesman said. "It also called for humanitarian access and the establishment of secure conditions under which the UN can deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance and that enable civilians to evacuate safely."

The Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front have taken control of more than 90 percent of the Palestinian refugee camp, reports said Saturday.

The capture of the Yarmouk Camp, five kilometers south of Damascus, by the Nusra and the IS groups came after four days of intense battles with the rival jihadist group, Aknaf Beit al- Maqdes, which has been in control of the camp since 2013.

The Aknaf group has retreated to the northeastern part of Yarmouk, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the IS beheaded two people in Yarmouk, spelling no details on the reasons behind the gruesome killing. Other activists said seven Palestinians were killed by the IS during the four-day-long battles.

Meanwhile, Syria's official news agency SANA said the Syrian government forces have for long besieged the camp since the Aknaf militants took control over it over two years ago, adding that the clashes are ongoing inside Yarmouk between the extremist groups.

Aknaf Beit al-Maqdes is a group of Palestinian fighters who sided with other jihadist groups in the face of the Syrian government. Reports said the Nusra Front, which was stationing near the camp, had facilitated the entry of the IS militants into that battered area.

The Syrian government brands the Aknaf group as a terrorist militant organization after the group refused several reconciliation attempts that were designed to disarm the militants inside the camp and alleviate the suffering of the trapped people inside. Endite