Shelling hits Palestinian camp in Syrian capital

A video posted on YouTube purports to show the aftermath of shelling on a marketplace at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, Syria, Aug 2, 2012. / YouTube

(AP) BEIRUT - Mortars rained down on a crowded marketplace in a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital, killing 21 people as regime forces and rebels clashed on the southern outskirts of Damascus, activists said Friday.

The attack on Yarmouk camp came as the government battled rebel fighters in the nearby Damascus suburb of Tadamon on Thursday evening. Clashes there continued on Friday and sounds of explosions from the neighborhood could be heard as far as the mostly deserted Damascus downtown, with plumes of smoke seen rising into the sky.

The U.N. agency running Palestinian camps confirmed that at least 20 people had died in the shelling of Yarmouk. The Britain-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights, which first reported the deaths, said the mortars hit as shoppers were buying food for the evening meal. The activists with the group would not speculate on who was firing.

"We don't know where the mortars came from, whether they were from the Syrian regime or not the Syrian regime," said Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Observatory. He added they could also have been strays from the fighting in nearby Tadamon.

The state news agency blamed the bombardment on "terrorist mercenaries" — a term the government uses for rebel fighters — and said they had been chased away by security forces.

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The incident highlights the precarious situation of not just Palestinian refugees but all civilians in Syria who are increasingly getting caught in the crossfire of this bloody uprising that has claimed 19,000 lives since it erupted in March 2011. Every day hundreds of civilians are uprooted by the violence, according to the U.N., which estimates that 1.5 million people have been force to abandon their homes but remain in the country.

An online video of the immediate aftermath of the Yarmouk attack showed bleeding and burnt bodies with people rushing about amid the smoke and the sounds of screaming.

To watch the video click on the player below. (Warning: Graphic images)

Government troops have in the past attacked the camp, home to nearly 150,000 Palestinians and their descendants driven from their homes by the war surrounding Israel's 1948 creation. Palestinian refugees in Syria have tried to stay out of the 17-month old uprising, but with Yarmouk nestled among neighborhoods sympathetic to the rebels, its residents were eventually drawn into the fighting.

Yarmouk's younger inhabitants have also been moved by the Arab Spring's calls for greater freedoms and have joined protests against President Bashar Assad's regime- and have died during demonstrations when Syrian troops fired on them.

The situation of the Palestinian refugees is particularly sensitive because Syria has long cast itself as the principal champion in the Arab world of the Palestinian struggle against Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government has a strict policy of neutrality regarding the Syrian conflict, condemned the Yarmouk attack.

"The presidency demands an immediate end to all murder and destruction in the refugee camps, and protection to its inhabitants," Abbas' office said in a statement carried on the official Palestinian news agency.

After the mortar attack, camp residents demonstrated against the government, chanting slogans against Assad and praising the opposition Free Syrian Army, according to online videos. The content of the videos could not be independently verified.

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[earth5695]

Zionist Censorship aka Achmed from Tehran covers 50 % of this and many commment boards with his cut and paste propoganda.

I won't report him because his actions are proof enough of his intentions and lack of debate skills...................

[DovBenMen]

Another day, another day of Arab and Islamic atrocities against Palestinians.

ALL CHARACTERS APPEARING IN THIS NEWS ITEM AND THE ORIGINAL EVENTS TO WHICH IT REFERS ARE NOT FICTITIOUS. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO REAL PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, IS ENTIRELY UNDERSTANDABLE. NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS NEWS EVENT. PLENTY OF PEOPLE WERE MURDERED, BUT NO ISRAELI, ZIONIST, JEW, OR EVEN ANYONE WHO ONCE KNEW SOMEONE WHO KNEW A JEW PARTICIPATED. THE PART OF EVIL MUSLIM DICTATOR "BASHAR HAFEZ AL-ASSAD" IS PLAYED BY HIMSELF AND THE ROLES OF THE SYRIAN MILITARY AND ITS LEADERS WERE PERFORMED BY THOSE INDIVIDUALS JUST BEFORE RETURNING HOME TO BREAK THE DAILY FAST DURING THIS HOLY MONTH OF RAMADAN.

Danny Ayalon says it best --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_3A6_qSBBQ

It is one thing for Arabs, Persians, Nazis, and other groups to hate Jews; that those same groups act out so violently against their own kind is astounding to civilization.

[earth5695]

Zionist Censorship ...............Do you have any cut and pastes of Palestinian propoganda that gets spewed 24/7 ?

They learned real well from the great Nazi propoganda minister Joseph Goebel as we all know.

LOL !!!..........Your actually quoting from Harraaetz ? Why don't you just give us the BBC while your at it ?

Keep it going as you keep proving Darwins Law.

[fiddlestickawshucks]

How stupid can you get.??!!

Evidently, pretty damn stupid.!

Why would anybody in their right mind set up a refugee camp in Syria.??

These idiots were just asking for it.!

[earth5695]

Hey Censorship............maybe your buddys in the West Bank or Gaza Mall would try to actually WANT peace they wouldn't be in their situation.

They lost a civil war like 122 other countrys but they can't get over it.

Insanity and denial are not good reasons to keep blaming everyone for choosing door # 3 and winning the porcelin pig instead of the Cadillac.