Germany’s Merkel in Turkey for talks over migrants

People walk at Turkey’s Oncupinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern city of Kilis, Turkey February 7, 2016.

Some 35,000 people fled a Syrian government offensive in the Aleppo area last week, trying to enter Turkey’s Kilis border region.

Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, says it has reached its capacity to absorb refugees but has indicated that it will continue to take refugees in. “We were surrounded, we have nowhere to go and we have nothing – no water, power, nothing, how can we live?”

“Either they will die beneath the bombings and Turkey will watch the massacre like the rest of the world, or we will open our borders”. “We are not in a position to tell them not to come”. That’s 11 children and we walked with them for 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in the middle of the night.

Syria-Turkey border (CNN)Tantalizingly close to Turkish soil, thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing an upsurge in violence have gathered at their neighbor’s border.

With pressure mounting, Turkey might reluctantly open its borders again despite claiming that it has reached maximum capacity for housing migrants.

Thousands have been sleeping in the open, at the border…

“From what MSF can see the situation in Azaz district is desperate, with ongoing fighting and tens of thousands of people displaced”, said Muskilda Zancada, the head of the group’s Syria mission. More than 260,000 people have died in Syria’s conflict and more than half the population has been displaced.

Turkish aid workers have been setting up tents and distributing supplies for thousands of new Syrian refugees kept from entering Turkey at the border.

A Turkish official said the Oncupinar crossing was “open for emergency situations”.

“We don’t want to fall into the same mistake in Syria as in Iraq”, he said, recounting how Turkey’s Parliament denied a USA request to use its territory for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The war has drawn in regional and worldwide rivals, with a U.S.-led coalition launching airstrikes against the IS group and Russian warplanes backing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Regime troops Sunday advanced toward the rebel town of Tal Rifaat, around 20 kilometers from the Turkish frontier, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Jabha al-Shamiyah, or Levant Front, rebel group has concluded a truce with the Islamic State (IS) and made a decision to join force to face the advance of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the northern province of Aleppo, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported on Sunday. And because the main rebel supply route between Aleppo and Turkey has been cut, the price of oil, foodstuffs and baby milk has shot up in the north of Aleppo province.

In the city of Aleppo, residents are preparing for the prospect of a government siege – a tactic that has been used in other areas around the country to force rebel fighters to surrender.

International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said 700 food parcels and 700 hygiene kits were to be distributed to 700 families, or roughly 3,500 people.

Opposition representatives have said they can not be expected to negotiate in Geneva at a time when the Syrian government and its allies, including Russian Federation, are escalating attacks on rebel strongholds.

Pope Francis urged the worldwide community “to spare no effort to urgently bring parties back to the negotiating table”, and appealed for generosity to ensure the “survival and dignity” of displaced Syrians.