A Turkish delegation was in Russia yesterday for talks on Syria, following reports that Russian-backed attacks there were forcing tens of thousands more Syrians to flee towards Turkey.
Turkey already hosts about 3.7mn Syrians — the world’s biggest refugee population.
Its President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday it could not handle a new influx and was urging Russia to stop the strikes in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.
The Turkey-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said yesterday 120,000 Syrians were fleeing towards the Turkish border — higher than Erdogan’s estimate of 80,000.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to recapture the Idlib region, the last significant area of Syria still under rebel control after 8-1/2 years of civil war. Russia and Iran have supported Assad’s forces during the Syrian conflict while Turkey has backed Syrian rebels fighting Assad. Russian and Syrian army jets have been targeting civilian convoys trying to flee the Idlib city of Maarat al-Numan, leaving hundreds of families still trapped there, activists and aid groups have said.
“It’s a tragic situation for civilians remaining in the city since Russian jets are hitting any convoy that leaves the city, while those who were able to reach areas closer to the border have nowhere to shelter,” said Mohamed Rasheed, an activist in the area.
The Syrian army said yesterday it had fought fierce battles in southeastern Idlib and seized several villages after killing large numbers of what it called terrorists. “People are lying on the ground sleeping in the open with no blankets and under rain and cold,” said Feras Saad, who fled the city with his family and found shelter in the border village of Harabosh.
Moscow and Damascus both deny allegations of indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas and say they are fighting Al Qaeda-inspired militants.
A Turkish diplomatic source said the delegation in Russia will also discuss Turkey’s potential troop deployment and military support to Libya, after Ankara and Tripoli signed a military co-operation accord last month.
Russia has said it is concerned about any such deployment.
Erdogan said on Sunday Turkey could increase military support to Fayez al-Serraj’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), which has been fighting off an offensive by east Libya forces led by Khalifa Haftar. Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have backed Haftar’s forces. Later yesterday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss developments in Syria and Libya. It did not give further details.
EIGHT CIVILIANS DEAD
Meanwhile, A car bomb killed eight civilians including a woman and a child in a Turkish-held border town in northern Syria yesterday, the defence ministry said.
The bomb-laden car exploded in the village of Suluk about 20 kilometres southeast of the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad, the ministry said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the attack left five dead. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. But the Turkish defence ministry put the blame on the Kurdish forces who controlled the town before Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies seized it during a military offensive in October.
Displaced Syrians from the south of Idlib province queue to receive food aid from a truck in the countryside west of the town of Dana in the northwestern region, yesterday.
