Palestinian delegation visits Syria

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DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- High-ranking Palestinian Authority officials are in Syria to discuss the plight of Palestinian refugees caught in fighting between government and rebel forces.

The delegation, led by Zakaria al-Agha, was to meet with Syrian officials to discuss ways of keeping residents at the Yarmouk refugee camp in the city out of the two-year conflict in which more than 600 Palestinians have been killed, the Ma'an news agency reported.

Al-Agha said the delegation -- the first Palestinian officials to visit Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 -- would also meet with people at the Yarmouk camp and with United Nations officials.

The aim of the visit is to secure the return to the camp of Palestinians who were displaced because of the fighting between regime and rebel forces.

More than half of the 130,000 residents fled the camp in the past two months because of the violence, Palestinian sources told The Jerusalem Post.