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A number of Syrian opposition factions will gather in Cairo next month to form a new coalition as an alternative to an exiled West-backed alliance, officials said Saturday.

More than 200 figures from the armed and civilian opposition factions are to attend the June 8-9 gathering and discuss a roadmap aimed at ending the four-year war in Syria.

The new grouping would offer an alternative to the National Coalition, the exiled opposition bloc that is widely recognized and supported by Western and Arab countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

"Arab, Kurdish and all faiths will attend the meeting to elect a political committee to adopt a roadmap and a policy charter," Haytham Manna, a veteran opposition figure and a key organizer of the event, told AFP.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/May-23/299096-syrian-dissidents-to-form-new-coalition-at-cairo-meet.ashx

Majority of refugees have left Yarmouk camp

Up to 13,000 refugees have fled the beleaguered Yarmouk refugee camp in recent days in fear of the Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front, a local Palestinian official said Saturday.

The secretary-general of the coalition of Palestinian factions in the camp, Khalid Abd al-Majid, told Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad on Saturday that fewer than 7,000 refugees remained in the camp.

He added that these remaining refugees may be forced from the camp in coming days as well.

Yarmouk -- once a thriving, working-class residential district of the capital and home to some 160,000 people -- is the largest refugee camp in Syria, but has suffered heavily during the Syrian civil war.

Since December 2012, when the first clashes broke out between Syrian regime forces and rebels, more than 150,000 Palestinian refugees have fled from Yarmouk.

The camp came under a devastating 18-month long government siege after rebel forces took up positions inside, including elements of the extremist al-Nusra Front.

The camp was subsequently overrun by Islamic State militants in April, leading to further government bombardment.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765580