Syrian border camps overflow
Opp. insists Russia end airstrikes Riyadh open to sending special forces into Syria
Beirut, Feb. 9: Emergency camps along Syria’s border with Turkey are overwhelmed by a flood of displaced families, aid workers warned, as the regime kept up an assault against embattled rebels on Tuesday.
In and around the Syrian town of Azaz near the frontier, people are sleeping in the streets, or up to 20 people to a tent, having left their homes with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.
“There are no longer enough places for families to sleep,” said Ahmad alMohammad, a field worker with medical aid group Doctors Without Borders.
“Many of them in the first days were sleeping in the streets and outdoors without blankets or covers.” “Most of the families left with just the clothes they were in,” he said, adding that the cold and the crowded conditions were causing health problems including diarrhoea.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off from food if Syrian government forces encircle rebel- held parts of Aleppo, the United Nations said on Tuesday, warning of a massive new flight of refugees from a Russian- backed assault.
Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, have launched a major offensive in the countryside around Aleppo, which has been divided between government and
Hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off from food if Syrian government forces encircle rebel- held parts of Aleppo, the United Nations said rebel control for years.
The UN is worried the government advance could cut off the last link for civilians in rebel- held parts of Aleppo with the main Turkish border crossing, which has long served as the lifeline for insurgent- controlled territory.
“It would leave up to 300,000 people, still residing in the city, cut off from humanitarian aid unless cross- line access could be negotiated,” the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in an urgent bulletin.
If government advances around the city continue, it said, “local councils in the city estimate that some 100,000- 150,000 civilians may flee”.
The Russian- backed government assault around Aleppo, as well as advances further south, helped torpedo the first peace talks for nearly two years, which collapsed last week before they got under way in earnest.
International powers are due to meet on Thursday in Munich in a bid to resurrect the talks, but diplomats hold out virtually no hope for negotiations as long as the Russianbacked government offensive is under way at full bore. Rebels say they will not attend without a halt to bombing.
Saudi foreign minister Adelal-Jubeir on Monday held out the possibility of sending Saudi special forces into Syria as part of a US- led coalition against ISIS.
“There is a discussion with regard to a ground force contingent, or a special forces contingent, to operate in Syria by this international US- led coalition against ISIS and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to provide special forces to such operations should they occur,” he said. He spoke to reporters after he met for the second day in a row with US secretary of state John Kerry.