Syrian jets bomb Palestinian camp

BEIRUT -- Syrian fighter jets bombed a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus Tuesday for the second time this week after rebels made significant advances, seizing large areas within the camp, activists said.

Meanwhile, American foreign correspondent Richard Engel of NBC said that he and his crew escaped unharmed during a firefight after being held captive for five days by pro-regime gunmen.

The rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime have pressed hard against the regime in the past weeks, capturing air bases and military installations in and around Damascus.

Their offensive in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in southern Damascus, which began Friday, is aimed at driving out a pro-government Palestinian faction.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists in the camp said fighter jets dropped bombs on the camp Tuesday afternoon, but there was no immediate word of casualties.

Similar airstrikes Sunday killed at least eight people in Yarmouk.

When the revolt against Assad's rule began 21 months ago, the half-million-strong Palestinian community in Syria stayed on the sidelines.

But as the civil war deepened, most Palestinians backed the rebels, while some groups -- such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command -- have been fighting on the government side.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Syrian military deployed several tanks along the camp's main entrance, residents said. There were no Syrian government troops in the camp and most of the fighting was between rebels and PFLP-GC gunmen, they said. The group is led by Ahmed Jibril, Assad's longtime ally.

World Food Program spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters Tuesday that about 2.5 million Syrians need food aid, but her agency can reach only 1.5 million of them.

The World Health Organization said the Damascus Hospital, the largest hospital in the capital, is receiving 70 to 100 patients a day whose most frequently observed injuries are burns, gunshots and injuries from explosions.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said women and children are increasingly among the injured and said the hospital has had an increase in cases of severe malnutrition from rural Damascus and other Syrian provinces.

The 21-month battle to bring down the Assad regime has forced some 3 million Syrians from their homes, according to a new estimate. Cold, wet winter weather is making life increasingly difficult for the displaced. Among those who left their homes are more than 500,000 who fled to neighboring countries -- Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

NBC's Engel meanwhile said Tuesday he and members of his network crew escaped unharmed after five days of captivity in Syria, where more than a dozen pro-regime gunmen dragged them from their car, killed one of their rebel escorts and subjected them to mock executions.

Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, an unshaven Engel said he and his team escaped during a firefight Monday night between their captors and rebels at a checkpoint. They crossed into Turkey on Tuesday.

Engel said he believes the kidnappers were a Shiite militia group loyal to the Syrian government.

The Syrian government has made it difficult for foreign journalists and citizens to report in Syria.

Those journalists whom the regime has allowed in are tightly controlled in their movements by Information Ministry minders. Other foreign journalists sneak into Syria illegally.

The kidnapping of foreigners has been rare, but as Syria descends further into chaos, the abductions have become more common.