Thousands of #Syria'n refugees stranded on Turkey border, ~10,000stranded http://f24.my/PDd3Am via @FRANCE24
6:42 PM - 3 Sep 12 · Details
Thousands of Syrian refugees stranded on Turkey border
As many as 10,000 Syrian refugees are stranded on the Syrian side of the Turkish border, activists say, as officials struggle to process them amid fears that Syrian attacks on a nearby town could cause numbers to swell even further.
By News Wires (text)
REUTERS - Thousands of Syrian refugees are stuck on the Turkish border while the authorities struggle to process a growing influx that could be swelled further by Syrian air and ground bombardment of a nearby town.
Syrian opposition activists said some 10,000 refugees had been stranded for a week on the Syrian side of the frontier adjacent to the southeastern Turkish province of Kilis, the main route into Turkey from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
A Syrian jet bombed the town of Azaz, 3 km (2 miles) from the border, early on Monday, prompting some of those who had not already fled to pack their bags, a Reuters witness said.
Azaz is notionally rebel-held but often comes under artillery fire at night from a nearby military airport. Half the population of around 70,000 has already fled, residents say.
"We haven't stopped taking the Syrians but we are doing this more slowly due to security concerns ... Some people are entering Turkey then going back and coming back again," an official from Turkey's AFAD disaster agency told Reuters.
"We are trying to distribute aid to those on the other side of the border. On Saturday their numbers were around 7,000-8,000," he said, asking not to be named.
Turkey already hosts more than 80,000 Syrians who have fled the 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and the U.N. refugee agency says the figure could reach 200,000.
Ankara fears a mass influx similar to the flight of half a million Iraqi Kurds into Turkey after the 1991 Gulf War.
Syrian opposition activists said some 10,000 refugees had been stranded for a week on the Syrian side of the frontier adjacent to the southeastern Turkish province of Kilis, the main route into Turkey from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
|
A Syrian jet bombed the town of Azaz, 3 km (2 miles) from the border, early on Monday, prompting some of those who had not already fled to pack their bags, a Reuters witness said.
Azaz is notionally rebel-held but often comes under artillery fire at night from a nearby military airport. Half the population of around 70,000 has already fled, residents say.
"We haven't stopped taking the Syrians but we are doing this more slowly due to security concerns ... Some people are entering Turkey then going back and coming back again," an official from Turkey's AFAD disaster agency told Reuters.
"We are trying to distribute aid to those on the other side of the border. On Saturday their numbers were around 7,000-8,000," he said, asking not to be named.
Turkey already hosts more than 80,000 Syrians who have fled the 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and the U.N. refugee agency says the figure could reach 200,000.
Ankara fears a mass influx similar to the flight of half a million Iraqi Kurds into Turkey after the 1991 Gulf War.
