PALESTINIAN refugees have fled as blasts and fierce clashes rocked their camp in Damascus, a day after President Bashar al-Assad's deputy gave a gloomy assessment of Syria's brutal conflict.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, meanwhile, told Damascus she would increase contacts with the opposition inside Syria to provide the needy with assistance.
The Yarmouk refugee camp housing tens of thousands of Palestinians in southern Damascus saw intense battles during the night between rebels and pro-regime Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), activists said.
Explosions and clashes were heard two days after warplanes bombed the camp for the first time since the start of the 21-month-old conflict.
Sunday's air raid killed eight civilians and drew stiff criticism from the international community and Palestinian leaders.
An activist calling himself Abu al-Sukan said as many as 35 per cent of the people have fled for fear of more fighting and air strikes, while in the camp itself, conditions had gravely deteriorated.
"There is a huge humanitarian crisis in the camp. There are no hospitals, no firefighters and the roads are not safe," he said on Tuesday.
The mosques of the camp broadcast an army ultimatum giving the 150,000 residents until midday (1000 GMT) Tuesday to leave their homes, a camp resident told AFP over the phone.
Sukan said fighters of the rebel Free Syrian Army were braced for more clashes.
As the conflict raged, leaving at least 191 people dead on Monday, according to the Observatory, differences emerged at the top levels of power in Damascus with Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa airing views at odds with Assad.
Sharaa said there would be no outright winner in the conflict, which is estimated to have already killed more than 43,000 people.
"No opposition can end the battle militarily, just as the security forces and army cannot achieve a decisive conclusion," Sharaa told Lebanon's Al-Akhbar newspaper.
"(Assad) does not hide his desire to press on militarily until the final victory (and he believes that) after this, political dialogue will actually still be possible."
A Sunni Muslim, Sharaa has for decades served the Assad regime, but has rarely been seen in public since the Arab Spring-inspired uprising erupted in March 2011.
Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, said Monday she had asked Damascus to allow 10 more aid groups to work inside Syria and that she would increase contacts with the opposition to help those in need.
The Assad government accepted the request, according to Amos.
Reports said Moscow was sending a flotilla of warships to the Mediterranean, which according to military sources could be to evacuate thousands of Russians still in Syria in case the situation in the country worsens.
Russia, a strong ally of Assad, also said two of its nationals along with an Italian steel worker had been abducted in Syria.
Separately, US television journalist Richard Engel was freed after being kidnapped in Syria and held for five days, his employer NBC News said on Tuesday.
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