World Bulletin / News Desk

A Palestinian official said on Thursday he supported a Syrian army offensive to regain control of the war-battered Yarmouk camp on the outskirts of Damascus that has fallen into the hands of ISIL

The group, which rules swathes of Syria and Iraq, seized almost all of Yarmouk in recent days, brushing aside local militia opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"They have tried to used the camp as a launching pad to expand their scope of clashes and their terror activities inside and outside the camp," said Ahmad Majdalani, a minister in the Western-backed Palestinian Authoritywho was sent to Damascus by the PLO leadership to discuss the crisis with the government.

Majdalani said the Syrian army alongside local Palestinian groups had had some success in pushing back the ISIL and had so far secured 35 percent of the camp.

The sprawling Yarmouk was home to some 160,000 Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011 -- refugees from the 1948 war of Israel's founding, and their descendents.

Majdalani said there were just 17,500 residents left, with around 2,000 evacuated since the latest round of fighting.