BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Popular committees in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria on Wednesday called for Palestinian leaders to use all possible means to expel armed groups from the camp.

Most residents of al-Yarmouk camp, near Damascus, have left the camp after fighting intensified there last month.

Those who are left behind, the popular committees said, are suffering at the hands of militants who steal from and burn down homes and harass the residents. The committee did not specify which armed groups were operating in the camp.

"We don't want bread and blankets, enough with trading with our name and pain, silence over these violations is a crime and all Palestinian factions, civil society, Arabic and Islamic groups will be responsible for destroying the right of return to Palestine," they said.