Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees set to reach Turkey

Nobody has any question about that. Are they going to stop too? You have to have a negotiation to arrive at the modalities of all parties complying and providing the access and providing for a ceasefire.

Altogether, aid agencies and the Turkish government say 70,000 t0 100,000 people may have been newly displaced and are on the move seeking safety inside northern Syria.

The Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the camp would continue to feed and shelter the refugees, but did not say when or if they would be allowed to enter his country. Regaining control of the city would be a huge victory for Assad, and one that could jeopardize the prospect of further peace talks and possibly mark the beginning of the end of the uprising against him.

“Our doors are not closed, but at the moment there is no need to host such people inside our borders”, Tapsiz said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry meanwhile said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect that Turkey, another opposition ally, is making intensive preparations for a military invasion of Syria.

What is clear is that Syria has been emboldened by Russia’s intervention.

The latest fleeing of Syrians was sparked when Syrian President Assad, backed by Russian air strikes – broke a three-year siege on government controlled villages in the region, Nubul and Zahraa.

The coordinator told reporters after the Syria peace talks were put on hold on Wednesday that peace can’t be done with the presence of Bashar al-Assad and with the foreign forces meddling.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Revolutionary Guard Corps Brigadier-General Mohsen Ghajarian has been killed in Aleppo province, as had six Iranian volunteer militiamen.

A larger issue is the fact that the carefully-designed Russian-Syrian offensive this week has cut off the main supply routes from Turkey into the rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, recent strikes by Russian Federation and Syrian forces had managed to free the towns of Nubl and al-Zhara’a, which has been besieged since 2012. The Observatory says the capture was backed by shelling and airstrikes, including by Russian warplanes.

Nearly 40,000 civilians have fled a government offensive, and Turkey is bracing for a wave of refugees. Russian Federation also alleged that Turkish Armed Forces have been organizing for “active actions” in Syria.

Stoltenberg said Friday that “this creates risks, heightened tensions and is of course a challenge for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation because they’re violations of NATO’s airspace”.

Saturday’s Amsterdam meeting, billed as informal talks, involved Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. “They are bombing Syrians all the time”.

On Friday, many Syrian refugees in Turkey headed to the crossing point in a bid to obtain news of their families. “On the one hand, the Syrian regime claims to discuss peace in Geneva and on the other hand, it intensifies its military offensive against opposition groups with which is supposed to discuss and imposes on the city of Aleppo an unprecedented torrent of fire, all of this with Russia’s military support”.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday it estimated that up to 20,000 people have gathered at the Bab al-Salama crossing and another 5,000 to 10,000 people displaced to nearby Azaz city. Amateur video showed thousands, including women and children, running with their belongings toward the frontier. The Syrian army announced the taking of the town of Attaman in the southern province of Dara’a putting the army closer into securing the contested provincial capital of the border province in Jordan.

“The fighting has also disrupted major aid and supply routes from the Turkish border”, she said.