Five civilians have been killed in 24 hours in regime shelling on a southern district of Syria's capital held by the Islamic State group, a monitor said Sunday. Syrian troops are waging an intense bombing campaign against Yarmuk, a Palestinian refugee camp on the edge of Damascus, and nearby districts that are held by IS.
An elderly man was killed Sunday in shelling on Yarmuk, and another died after he was wounded in bombardment there the previous day, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A woman, her husband, and their child were killed in shelling in Yarmuk late Saturday, it said.
"This brings to 11 the number of civilians killed since the shelling escalated on Thursday," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. The bombing and clashes continued into Sunday, Abdel Rahman said, with air strikes, artillery, and surface-to-surface missiles hitting the neighbourhood.
Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), said the bombardment had pushed most Yarmuk residents to flee their homes and put the area's last hospital out of service. "Since the start of fighting four days ago, most of the 6,000 civilians in Yarmuk camp have been forcibly displaced to the neighbouring area of Yalda," he said.
"The last functioning hospital inside Yarmuk, Palestine Hospital, is now completely unable to operate," Gunness said. He called on all sides to allow civilians to leave safely, for the sick and wounded to be evacuated, and for safe access for humanitarian workers to distribute food and medicine.
Yarmuk was once a densely populated and thriving district of the capital, but it has been ravaged by violence since Syria's conflict broke out in 2011.