MORE THAN 1,000 Syrian refugees fled through a single escape route to neighbouring Turkey last night, as fears of a massacre in the north of the country grow.
Syria’s authoritarian government has acknowledged losing control of parts of the northern province of Idlib, and what appeared to be an imminent assault in the town of Jisr al-Shughour would sharply escalate the upheaval that threatens the 40-year regime led by President Bashar Assad.
Following the deaths of 120 security personnel last week, according to the Syrian government, the government vowed a “decisive” response – leading locals to fear a major retaliatory attack is on the way, reports the BBC. Eyewitnesses told BBC journalist that 13 or 14 tanks had surrounded the town of Jisr al-Shughour.
Dozens of Syrians were crossing into Turkey by the hour from Idlib, some on motorbikes and pickup trucks, some on foot.
“I don’t want to die. I want Bashar Assad to go,” said one Syrian teenager, who identified himself only by his first name, Ahmad, fearing reprisals from the Syrian government. Activists say more than 10,000 people have been detained since the uprising began in mid-March.
The total number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has now reached 1,600 according to official estimates, however it is suspected that the tue number is much higher, the BBC reports. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared that Turkey will not close its doors to Syrians, and border troops have been ordered to give all refugees shelter. At a news conference yesterday, Erdogan appealed to the Syrian authorities to abandon violence against its people, Reuters reports.
Erdogan’s words come amid a clamour of international appeals to the counrty: yesterday, European powers proposed a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, asking it to urge Syria to abandon violence against pro-democracy protesters. Pope Benedict XVI has also appealed to the Syrian authorties.
However, China and Russia have opposed the draft resolution – saying that Syria should be allowed to deal with internalissues without foreign interference.
As well as reports of tanks being positioned outside the northern city of Jisr al-Shughour, Syrian tanks were also deployed in the streets of Aleppo, the province that is home to Syria’s second-largest city of the same name, said Erdogan to CNN-Turk television late Wednesday.
“There are tanks in the streets,” Erdogan said. “They seem to have lost control there.”
Aleppo has historic ties with Turkey and Erdogan said his government was taking measures to protect families there.
In Geneva, Navi Pillay, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, accused Syria of trying to “bludgeon its population into submission” by attacking anti-government protesters with snipers, tanks and artillery.
The struggle over Jisr al-Shughour and Idlib is a critical test for the Assad family’s government, which said “armed groups” had killed 120 security forces in the area but has not commented on reports of a mutiny by some military units opposing the crackdown.
Ahmad and a few other teenagers from the town of Jisr al-Shughour spoke to an Associated Press reporter in Guvecci, where they came to collect food and blankets for their families still on the other side of the frontier. One villager said they came before dawn and would return at night to avoid detection by Turkish soldiers.
Muhammad, a 19-year-old, said hundreds of Syrians were camping just across the frontier “undecided whether to cross into Turkey or not.”
Muhammad accused the Syrian police and intelligence forces loyal to Assad and said: “The military units are not doing anything wrong.” He would not elaborate on reports that some troops had mutinied and joined forces with residents fighting back against the crackdown. Some activists had told reporters that a mutiny in the town of Jisrash Shugur had led to the deaths, Al Arabyia News reports.
An elite Syrian military unit believed to be led by Assad’s younger brother, Maher, had all but surrounded Jisr al-Shughour, leaving open just one route to the border 20 kilometres away, according to activist Mustafa Osso.
“The reinforcements are complete and the army could storm the city at any moment,” Osso, who lives in Syria, told The Associated Press by telephone after talking to contacts in the area.
Al-Watan, a pro-government newspaper, reported Thursday that the army was mobilizing for a confrontation that would last for days in Idlib. It said troops faced an estimated 2,000 gunmen backed by young extremist villagers.
There was no way to independently verify the report. The Syrian government, which sharply restricts local media and expelled foreign journalists from Syria, has blamed recent violence on gunmen and religious militants.
Al-Watan also reported that people in Idlib were leaving home “to give the Syrian army a chance to enter all areas and confront the gunmen.”
The refugees in Turkey, mostly women and children, were seen resting in the shadow of pine trees within a fenced camp, where dozens of white conical tents are set up by the Turkish Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross.
Turkish ambulances were on standby at a border crossing in Yayladagi to rush any wounded refugees to hospitals. About 30 Syrians who have crossed the border were being treated for injuries suffered during clashes in Syria.
Additional reporting by the AP
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