Update to this story.

(Baku-APA) — The Syrian army is preparing a carry out a counterattack on a Palestinian refugee camp in south Damascus after foreign-backed militants took control of the camp, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Hundreds of the members of the terrorist Free Syrian Army and al-Nusra Front are reported to have holed up in Yarmuk refugee camp over the past days, committing acts of violence against the camp’s residents.

“Soldiers have amassed in large numbers and are preparing a military operation to cleanse the camp,” al-Watan newspaper said.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) says the population of the camp had halved by Tuesday.

Opposition sources claimed on Sunday that government forces have bombed Yarmuk, but the Syrian military immediately rejected the claim, saying it has only targeted Salafist insurgents holed up in the camp.

Some reports say armed men affiliated to the al-Nusra Front executed a number of Palestinian civilians in the refugee camp.