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. It is located 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) from the center of Damascus and within municipal boundaries; this was not the case when it was established in 1957. It contains hospitals and schools. Yarmouk is an "unofficial" refugee camp, as UNRWA rejected a Syrian government request to recognize the camp in 1960. Now depopulated, it was previously home to the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria. As of June 2002, there had been 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 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 flee.

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 just 100–200. It is estimated that 160,000 Palestinians were displaced and forced to flee the Yarmouk refugee camp against their will during the Syrian civil war. Many Palestinians raised concerns that the Syrian regime may want to redevelop the area for use by Syrians. There have been suggestions within Syria to relocate the Palestinians to remote scrubland. As of 2022, Palestinians have begun to return, but the population remains far from its pre-war peak.