Syria refugees brave perilous borders to reach Turkey

Some 2,800 refugees escape Syria in one day as regime forces lay mines, ambush migrants ahead of deadline to stop violence

Reuters|Published: 04.06.12 , 18:16

Syrian forces are pressing a military offensive and laying mines near the border with Turkey in an attempt to block a flow of refugees and supplies for insurgents, rebel activists and a Turkish official at the frontier said on Friday.

The flow of refugees to Turkish camps nearby swelled to a record 2,800 on Thursday as violence in the bordering Idlib province worsened. Syrian army activity, visible across olive groves from the small Turkish border village of Bukulmez, comes days before a ceasefire deadline agreed by President Bashar Assad.

"The whole of northern Idlib has become another Baba Amr," said Ahmed Sheikh, a law student and activist, referring to a district of the town of Homs devastated by shelling in the past two months.

It was impossible to verify reports from the many refugees fleeing Syria since foreign correspondents' access to the country is strictly limited by the Damascus government.

Villagers reported hearing artillery along the border.

A Turkish foreign ministry official touring the camps in the area said there was new activity close to the border.

"The Syrians have been mining the border, especially the southern Idlib part which has been restricting the flow of refugees," the official said. He declined to give his name.

"Assad is using the days granted to him by the international community to choke off the refugee movement to Turkey and the delivery of any kind of aid," said Muhammad Abdallah, a rights campaigner from Idlib.

He said most of the border area from the Mediterranean coast was closed, leaving only a 10 km (six mile) corridor along a valley near Rehanyi which the rebel Free Syrian Army controls.

"But I don't expect this to last for long because we have seen nearby villages and towns come under intense helicopter, tank and artillery bombardment," he said.

Ankara demands UN action

In Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu demanded Assad keep his promise to cease military operations.

"At the moment the number of refugees to have entered Turkey is 23,835. If more refugees come then the United Nations and international community must take action," he told reporters.

Under an internationally backed plan agreed with Damascus, government forces should cease operations and withdraw from settlements by April 10. Rebels should then cease fire within 48 hours.

Turkey fears that a complete breakdown in Syria would unleash a flood of refugees reminiscent of the half million who descended on Turkish territory from Iraq during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

Ankara officials have cited such a development as one of the few that might make it consider establishment of a safe zone on the Syrian side. The presence now of Syrian troops so close to the border would make such a move perilous.

'No escape from Assad'

Abdallah said government forces were trying as far as possible to cut off refugees well before the border. The two main highways into Turkey from Aleppo and the provincial capital of Idlib had been cut off by army roadblocks.

One particularly dangerous crossing is the Orontes River, which marks the border and is famous for its strong currents. Syrian army tents could be seen pitched amid lush farmland on the other side.

Syrian opposition activists said four refugees were shot dead trying to cross the river this week and a 16-year-old boy drowned. The activists said the Syrian army fired at and sank barrels used as makeshift boats pulled by ropes.

"Behind the tents there are army machinegun positions. If Assad lets the people escape you would see hundreds of thousands of Syrians here," said Mohammad Hijazi, who was elected as a representative of refugees in Boynuyogun camp, one of several camps Turkish authorities set up right on the border.