The United Nations has called for humanitarian access to the besieged Yarmouk refugee camp in the suburbs of Damascus. The UN is worried about the 18,000 Palestinian refugees in the camp. Many of Yarmouk's residents escaped after the group ISIS invaded last Wednesday and overran the camp. Jordan's Ambassador to the UN called "for the protection of civilians" and for "life-saving assistance". Another UN spokesperson described the situation as "desperate". He said: "What civilians in Yarmouk are most concerned about right now is bare survival".

Yarmouk was established in 1957 for the huge influx of Palestinian refugees from Israel. It became the largest Palestinian refugee community in Syria. About 160,000 people lived there. Life in the camp had already become terrible for most residents because of 18 months of bombing and a siege during Syria's civil war. Many parts of the camp look like a ghost town. There are bombed-out buildings everywhere. News agencies report that ISIS now controls about 90 per cent of the camp. Syria is worried that ISIS could use Yarmouk as a base to launch attacks on the capital Damascus.