WASHINGTON
The U.S. on Friday condemned violence in the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib that has killed more than 100 civilians and displaced 30,000 others.
Regime jets left Idlib under heavy airstrikes since opposition fighters liberated the city from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces last Saturday.
Fighting between regime forces and opposition groups and airstrikes by the Assad regime on Idlib city reportedly killed more than 100 civilians, significantly damaged hospitals, and displaced an estimated 30,000 people, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
She said Daesh militants massacred more than 40 victims in Mabuja in the northern province of Hama, reportedly Ismailis and Alevis, while regime bombings killed scores of other locals.
"We also condemn and are deeply concerned by ISIL’s attacks this week against the besieged Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus," Harf said.
Daesh militants marched into Yarmouk on April 1, putting the remaining 18,000 civilians in the area at severe risk, she said.
"Yarmouk’s inhabitants have already suffered from the regime’s violence and have lived under siege for nearly two years, deprived of desperately needed essentials, including food and medical relief," she added.
Following intense clashes between Free Syrian Army fighters and Daesh, the militant group gained control of large parts of the camp, according to activists.
Assad regime forces have also hit the area with mortar and artillery fire.
Tens of thousands of refugees -- mostly Palestinian women and children -- live in the camp that has remained under siege by Syrian regime forces and pro-regime militias since last September.
Located on the outskirts of Damascus, the camp accommodated more than 160,000 Palestinian refugees before the Syrian civil war began in March 2011.
Most of the refugees were forced to leave after the conflict began.
