Date: May 23, 2018 Source: The Daily Star 'Severe damage' in Syria's Yarmouk makes returns unlikely: UN Agence France Presse BEIRUT: The U.N. Tuesday said it was almost impossible to imagine people returning to Syria's ruined Yarmouk Palestinian camp, a day after the government recaptured it from militants. Syrian troops seized control of Yarmouk and other neighborhoods in the south of the capital Damascus Monday after a month-long assault against Daesh (ISIS). Yarmouk has been so heavily battered by fighting that it was hard to picture daily life restarting there, the United Nations' Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) said Tuesday. "Yarmouk was once the thriving home of 160,000 Palestinians. Today it lies in ruins, with hardly a house untouched by the conflict," spokesman Chris Gunness said. "The public health system, water, electricity, basic services for life are severely damaged. The debris of this pitiless conflict is everywhere," he told AFP. "In that environment, it is hard to see how people can go back." An AFP correspondent in Yarmouk Monday during a government press tour said buildings had been reduced to mound after mound of smashed concrete and rubble. Any structures left standing appeared gutted or burned, with holes punched through by artillery fire. Fighting over the years had whittled down Yarmouk's population to just hundreds by the time Syria's army began its assault last month. Gunness said between 100 to 200 civilians were estimated to still be in Yarmouk, including people too old or sick to flee. "The situation they face is inhumane by any standards and we need humanitarian access urgently," he said, adding that UNRWA had not had access to Yarmouk since 2015. "It is heartbreaking to see these images and hear the human stories that lie behind them." Yarmouk was, for decades, a bustling district where both Palestinians and Syrians lived. It was placed under crippling siege a year after the uprising began in 2011. Anwar Abdel-Hadi, an official with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, told AFP discussions had been initiated with UNRWA to see how Yarmouk could be rebuilt. "The next step after liberation is combing the area, removing rubble, and assessing the damage to rebuild and bring infrastructure back so civilians can return," Abdel-Hadi said. "If someone tried to come back, wouldn't he need water, electricity, streets, services, and safety to live there?"