Syria ’s Khan ##a refugee camp , home to descendants of several thousand Palestinian refugees who were expelled from their homes during the 1948 nakba , is besieged by Russian - backed rebel forces and is on the verge of collapse . Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat purportedly once dubbed Khan Eshieh the "camp of return" for that very reason. The countryside around the camp has been an important flashpoint between government and rebel factions since 2011 , and has been besieged since 2013 . Increasingly , Russian and Syrian forces have been directly targeting the camp in regular bombings which have claimed 31 lives since . The town ’s last hospital was destroyed by airstrikes weeks ago , and schools have been suspended since October .
Syria ’s Khan ##a refugee camp , home to descendants of several thousand Palestinian refugees who were expelled from their homes during the 1948 nakba , is besieged by Russian - backed rebel forces and is on the verge of collapse . The countryside around the camp has been an important flashpoint between government and rebel factions since 2011 , and has been besieged since 2013 . Increasingly , Russian and Syrian forces have been directly targeting the camp in regular bombings which have claimed 31 lives since . The town ’s last hospital was destroyed by airstrikes weeks ago , and schools have been suspended since October .