Syria says it is preparing the return of Palestinian refugees to Yarmouk

The Syrian authorities have drawn up a plan for the return of Palestinians to the war-torn Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus, the deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday.

In an interview with Beirut-based television channel Al-Mayadeen, Faisal al-Meqdad said there was a "plan for the return of all refugees to the camp," which is home to some 160,000 Palestinians. before the start of the war in Syria.

He did not specify how or when people would start coming back.

The Syrian government and allied forces took over the neighborhood in May from ISIS, pushing the jihadists out of their only stronghold in the capital.

"Efforts are being made to clean up (the camp) the mines left behind … Daesh," said Meqdad, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Founded in 1957 with tents for Palestinians who have fled or been evicted from their homes with the creation of Israel, Yarmouk has developed to become a very lively neighborhood.

In 2012, about 140,000 residents fled in the aftermath of clashes.

Those who remained have faced severe shortages of food and medicine under the drying siege of the government, which has been going on for years.

ISIS jihadists entered the region in 2015, causing further suffering to the remaining residents until their forced eviction in May.

Five months later, only a few residents managed to return.

Meqdad said Damascus wanted to dispel any "rumor" that Palestinians were displaced.

The once busy neighborhood is now a ghost town dotted with rubble and mutilated steel rods.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that its 23 locals in the camp, including 16 schools, were damaged, but that it would not repair any of them. them unless the government officially authorizes the residents to return.

Palestinian and UN officials have criticized Damascus for not giving the go-ahead to reconstruction plans or officially authorizing the return of residents.

Meqdad said Monday that the Syrian government would not oppose a "role of the Palestinian Authority or UNRWA in rebuilding the camp".

More than 360,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of multi-faceted war in Syria with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.