18.12.2012. Syria warned its Palestinian refugee population on Monday
not to aid the insurgency that is fighting President Bashar al-Assad, as
hundreds of Palestinians fled the Yarmouk neighborhood of Damascus. Many headed
for relative safety in Lebanon, a day after Syrian forces attacked that
neighborhood with airstrikes for the first time in the civil war.
The Syrian warning appeared to reflect the importance that Mr. Assad
attaches to the loyalty of the country’s Palestinians, an important element of
what remains of his political legitimacy. It came as new clashes were reported
in and around the Yarmouk neighborhood between government forces and rebel
fighters.
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