Palestinians back joint Yarmouk operation with Syria army, PLO says

A group of 14 Palestinian factions said Thursday they backed a joint military operation with the Syrian government to expel ISIS militants from the Yarmouk refugee camp camp in southern Damascus.

The factions support “a security solution that will be carried out in partnership with the Syrian state and will have as its priority maintaining the security of citizens,” said Palestine Liberation Organization official Ahmed Majdalani.

In early April, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based activist group, said ISIS was in control of a “large part” of the camp after fighting with Palestinian groups also opposed to President Bashar Assad's regime.

Yarmouk was once a thriving neighborhood home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees and Syrians but has been caught up in the country’s fighting and besieged by regime forces for more than a year.