CLASHES between Syrian rebels and an armed Palestinian group loyal to President Bashar al-Assad is raging inside a Damascus refugee camp as the Syrian military closes in, opposition activists say, following two days of shelling.
The reinforcements were brought in overnight to the outskirts of the al-Yarmouk camp, after fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army said they were controlling most areas inside the camp.
The move has prompted an exodus from the camp to safer areas in Damascus and neighbouring Lebanon.
"About 2000 Palestinian refugees from Syria crossed to Lebanon in buses and cars (since late Monday)," a Lebanese border official told DPA.
Al-Yarmouk is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, with 150,000 inhabitants.
Some of those who arrived in Lebanon said the Syrian government has given the refugees until Tuesday to leave the camp, raising fears of an imminent attack, according to opposition activists.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Monday that the attacks on al-Yarmouk showed there has been no change in "the regime's behaviour, including the brutality it's inflicting on its own people".
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, in a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, insisted that the "Palestinians must not harbour terrorist groups inside the al-Yarmouk camp".
The rebels had made significant tactical advances in the past weeks, capturing air bases and military installations in and around Damascus.
Their offensive in the Yarmouk camp, which began on Friday, was aimed at driving the pro-government Palestinian gunmen out of the camp, which would be another blow to Assad and his loyalists.
When the revolt against Assad's rule began in March 2011, the half-million-strong Palestinian community in Syria tried to stay on the sidelines of the conflict.
But as the civil war deepened, most Palestinians backed the rebels, though some groups - such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command - have been fighting on the government side.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the violence in Yarmouk is forcing an exodus of Palestinian refugees and Syrians who came to the camp in past weeks to escape violence elsewhere in the city. The Observatory relies on reports from activists on the ground.
Camp residents said several mortar round landed inside Yarmouk on Tuesday and gunfire has echoed around the area. The residents spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety.
They said there were no Syrian government troops in the camp and that most of the fighting was between rebels and gunmen from the PFLP-GC. The group is led by Ahmed Jibril, Assad's longtime ally.
Syrian pro-government Al Watan newspaper said on Tuesday the army could be preparing an operation "to cleanse the Yarmouk camp of gunmen".
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