Scared residents flee, crowd into shelters

Parallel offensives waged by Turkey and the Syrian government on two separate towns Monday in Syria pushed residents into overcrowded shelters for safety as others tried to flee the advancing forces by road. Residents and displaced families in Douma in the rebel-held Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta were sleeping in shops and in the streets as basements in the town filled up beyond capacity, said Haitham Bakkar, a local resident. Meanwhile, thousands of people were fleeing the northwestern town of Afrin as Turkish troops and Turkey-backed opposition fighters moved closer to completely encircling it. A Europe-based spokesman for the largest Kurdish group in Syria said those fleeing were fearful that Turkish troops and Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters might commit atrocities against the Kurds and minority Christians, Alawites and Yazidis in the town.