Inside Story

Who can save Yarmouk?

After years of being besieged, the situation in the camp has deteriorated even more now that ISIL has moved in.

The tiny Damascus suburb of Yarmouk was once a bustling, residential district home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their schools, hospitals and shops. But like so many towns and cities across Syria, the war has taken its toll.

Yarmouk has been under a government siege for almost two years. People are effectively trapped with little access to food, water, electricity or outside aid. But after fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) moved into the camp about a week ago, the situation deteriorated even further.

The UN has described the conditions there as “beyond inhumane”. And is calling for full humanitarian access to the camp. But many question what the UN is capable of doing.

And how was ISIL able to get into the camp in the first place?

Presenter: Kamahl Santamaria

Guests:

Pierre Krahenbuhl – Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees

Salim Salamah – the head of the Palestinian League for Human Rights in Syria, and someone who was born in Yarmouk

Benjamin Decker – senior intelligence analyst for the Levantine Group, which conducts risk analysis