Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk shows extent of violence during 13-year civil war in Syria

Faizan Abdumullah, 73, decided to return to Yarmuk, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. She was born and raised here but had to flee her home when the civil war started in 2011.

Like most residents of Yarmuk, Hussein Hilled, 48, returned to this former Palestinian refugee camp in recent weeks. He said he found his house still standing, but everything inside was looted or burned.

A Syrian family attempts to return to Yarmuk after the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell earlier this month.

Yarmuk once housed more than 150,000 residents. Its population dwindled to fewer than 1,000 people in 2018, but now many refugees are returning to try to rebuild their old homes.

There are no battles anymore in Yarmuk, but life remains very hard. With no power or water, these women, who recently returned from a village in the Damascus countryside, are struggling.

A woman hides her face near one of the many military bases surrounding the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp.

Former residents of the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp are returning to their destroyed homes because the cost of living in and around Damascus has become too expensive in recent years.

Yarmuk was relentlessly bombarded by Assad’s forces starting in 2011, when the Syrian civil war began. Most of its buildings are destroyed or severely damaged.

A young Palestinian boy plays among the ruins of the former Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk, destroyed by regime forces during the Syrian civil war.

No place was spared during the years of battles between rebel forces and Assad’s army. Even Yarmuk’s mosques were destroyed.

Few places in Syria were as affected by the civil war as Yarmuk. No building or house was spared during the battles between Assad’s forces and the rebels.

In some areas of the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp, entire blocks of apartments have been flattened by bombardments and airstrikes.