Syrian-Palestinians remember Yarmouk siege, condemn Israeli attacks (Photos)

DAMASCUS — Among the skeletons of war-scarred buildings of the Yarmouk camp in Damascus, dozens of residents gathered on Friday to commemorate the revolution and remember the years-long siege of the camp by the former Assad regime. 

A series of speakers from Palestinian House, a local charitable association, recalled memories of war and siege. Pictures of Palestinians from Yarmouk killed since the Syrian revolution began in 2011 hung from the walls of surrounding buildings. 

The faces included Wasim Seyam, a victim of the April 2013 Tadamon massacre of nearly 300 civilians by Assad regime forces. Another poster remembered Ayman Joudah, a local Fatah commander killed by a regime sniper in February 2013. A third depicted Hassan Hassan, an actor, activist and filmmaker from Yarmouk who was arrested at a regime checkpoint the same year and killed in detention. 

Posters hung in Yarmouk camp to remember those lost since the revolution began in 2011. They show (from left to right) Wasim Seyam, Ayman Joudah and Hassan Hassan, 28/3/2025 (Natacha Danon/Syria Direct)

Speeches were punctuated by the Fida’i—the Palestinian national anthem—and the chant: “One, one, one, the Palestinian and Syrian people are one.” The atmosphere was weary and somber as residents remembered lost loved ones. Nearly four months after the fall of the Assad regime, life is still hard in Yarmouk, where services are limited and 80 percent of the buildings are destroyed. 

A poster hung in Yarmouk during an event commemorating the Syrian revolution and the devastating siege of the camp reads: “We dared to dream and we will not regret dignity,” 28/3/2025 (Natacha Danon/Syria Direct)

An hour later, camp residents piled into cars heading for Ummayad Square, where a protest was being held against Israel’s incursion in southern Syria and attacks that killed at least nine people in Daraa province this month.

On Tuesday, armed confrontations and Israeli bombardment killed six people in Koya, a village in the Yarmouk Basin region of western Daraa. Last week, Israeli airstrikes killed at least three in Daraa city. 

Protestors gather at Umayyad Square to denounce Israeli occupation and attacks in southern Syria. One sign (far right) reads: “From the Golan to Jerusalem, the occupation is temporary,” 28/3/2025 (Abd Almajed Alkarh/Syria Direct)

Musab, 35, participated in both the commemoration at Yarmouk and the protest at Ummayad Square. Originally from Yarmouk camp, his mother is Syrian and his father is Palestinian. “We came to Umayyad Square to condemn the Israeli violations against the Syrian state,” he told Syria Direct.

For Musab, the parallel between the two events was clear. “There wouldn’t be Palestinian refugees in Syria if not for Israel and its violations, and there wouldn’t be a protest at Umayyad Square if there weren’t Israeli attacks against Syria currently,” he said. 

Abd Almajed Alkarh contributed reporting.