Syrians flee to Turkish border as Aleppo assault intensifies

He said Turkey would provide aid to the displaced within Syria, but would only open the gates in the event of an “extraordinary crisis”.

A man eats food as Syrians fleeing the northern embattled city of Aleppo wait on February 6, 2016 in Bab Al-Salam, near the city of Azaz, northern Syria, near the Turkish border crossing.

Turkish officials say thousands of Syrians have massed on the Syrian side of the border seeking refuge in Turkey.

“Families have been sleeping outside in the cold in fields and tents with no worldwide NGO there to help them”.

Suleyman Tapsiz, governor of the border province of Kilis, said Turkey would send aid to the displaced, but had no immediate plans to let them in.

Approximately 2.5 million Syrians are now living in Turkey.

She said another 10,000 people were estimated to have been displaced to the Kurdish town of Afrin, elsewhere in northern Aleppo.

“I look at these images of people standing at the Turkish border and I just wanted to underline the message people who are in humanitarian need should be allowed in”, he said.

The number of Syrians trying to cross into Turkey amid an upsurge of fighting in northern Syria has almost doubled, a Turkish official says. This week alone, Russian warplanes hit close to 900 targets across Syria, including near Aleppo. If the peace talks don’t include the unconditional surrender of the terrorist groups in Syria, the only solution will be to defeat these groups by tightening the sieges and maintaining military offensives at all costs.

“We have serious grounds to suspect Turkey is in intensive preparations for an armed invasion of the territory of a sovereign state-the Syrian Arab Republic”, the ministry said in a statement, as quoted by Yahoo!

A day of intense battles across Syria and it seems the odds are favoring the Syrian government forces and its allies.

Further north, “we’re seeing local tribal resistance fighters combining with KSF (Kurdish Security Forces)” in actions against ISIS, Ryder said.

Aleppo is the anti-Assad rebel Syrians’ major prize.

The week had begun on a somewhat hopeful note, with United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura declaring the launch of indirect talks between a Syrian government delegation and opposition representatives in Geneva.

“I assure you [that] any aggressor will return to their country in a wooden coffin, whether they be Saudis or Turks”, he warned.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow hopes other members of the International Syria Support Group meeting in Munich will also “shoulder responsibility” in restarting talks between the government and opposition.

Many refugees had made the journey based on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s open-door policy for those escaping conflict.

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.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments, which were reported by Tasnim news agency Friday, closely followed the announced death of a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander in Syria. “If people had guarantees they could enter Turkey, everyone would leave”, he said. “But even if it happens, it won’t be bad because they would be definitely defeated”. In recent months, only limited numbers of Syrians have been allowed to cross.

Iran, another military ally of Syria, ridiculed Saudi Arabia.