Palestinian envoy: ‘Military’ option agreed for Syrian camp

FILE – In this Feb. 4, 2014, file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Palestinian residents of the besieged refugee camp of Yarmouk wait at the gate of the camp to receive aid supplies from the United Nations on the southern edge of the Syrian capital, Damascus. (AP Photo)

A Palestinian official says an agreement has been reached with the Syrian government to use military force to expel Islamic State militants from an embattled Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus.

Palestinian Labor Minister Ahmad Majdalani told the Voice of Palestine Radio that “we have agreed with the Syrian government on ways to force the terrorist group IS out of the Yarmouk refugee camp.”

He says “the military solution is the only one to force these terrorists out” of Yarmouk, which IS militants largely overran last week.

Majdalani is leading a West Bank delegation to Damascus to address the Yarmouk crisis.

Majdalani also says the Syrian government has agreed to ensure safe passage to refugees in Yarmouk and to provide them with shelter outside the camp.