Palestinians returning to Yarmouk hope other refugees come back, too
As we reported earlier, Palestinians have been returning to the Yarmouk refugee camp outside Damascus. Taghrid Halawi was among those who went back to see her old home.
“You really feel that your Palestine is here, even though you are far from Palestine,” she told the Associated Press news agency. “Even with all this destruction, I feel like it’s like heaven. I hope that everyone returns, all the ones who left the country or are living in other areas.”
Built to host Palestinian refugees in 1957, Yarmouk grew into a bustling suburb of some 1.2 million people, including 160,000 people from Palestine. After Syria’s war broke out in 2011, the al-Assad regime bombed the suburb heavily, targeting fighters there. The camp was all but abandoned, and the number of Palestinian refugees in the areas now stands at 8,160, according to the AP.
Syria’s new administration sends ‘major military convoy’ to Latakia
SOHR says the Administration of Military Operations has brought a “major military convoy” to the coastal province of Latakia to “arrest gunmen supporting the former regime”. The offensive also aims to “cleanse the area of weapons,” the war monitor said. It added that the fighters have closed the area for civilians.
Latakia, home to the Alawite Shia minority, had previously been a stronghold for al-Assad’s family.
The Reuters news agency reported last week that the forces that overthrew al-Assad met elders in the former president’s hometown of Qardaha in Latakia and received a statement of support from them.
Landmine explosion kills six, including three children, in Hama
The Syrian civil defence is reporting that six civilians from the same family, including three children, were killed after a landmine left from the war exploded in the eastern Hama countryside.
The White Helmets said the family was travelling by car near the village of Rahjan on Saturday when its members were killed by unexploded ordnance.
The organisation called the landmines “a deferred death left by the criminal former al-Assad regime in the Syrian regions, threatening the lives of civilians”. The White Helmets cautioned civilians to stay away from any military sites and roads near them.
At least 24 civilians had been killed by landmines since last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported earlier.
Essay Pro