New onslaught by Assad forces Syrians to f lee
STANDING in the ruins of their shattered city, these Syrians are the l atest victims of the country’s five-year civil war.
Rebel-held districts of Aleppo have been reduced to rubble in attacks by Russian-backed government forces.
Tens of thousands have fled the city to seek sanctuary in Turkey. By last night 50,000 people had arrived at the Bab AlSalama checkpoint on the border.
Although the gates at the crossing-point remained firmly shut the sheer scale of the exodus suggests Europe’s refugee crisis is about to get worse. Turkey has served as a
‘Civilians are besieged
from three sides’
stepping stone into Europe ever since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011.
What was initially a trickle turned into a flood last summer as conditions deteriorated in Turkish refugee camps and Angela Merkel offered Germany as a haven.
As many as half a million Syrians have paid people-smugglers for the hazardous journey to Greece.
From there they follow the well-trodden routes through the Balkans and into northern Europe. The ports of Calais and Dunkirk are targeted by those – usually young men – who are eager to live in the UK.
There are also warnings that the huge and chaotic influx is being exploited by terrorists, including the Paris attackers.
Yesterday Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany’s home intelligence agency, said: ‘We have repeatedly seen that terrorists ... have slipped in camouflaged or disguised as refugees.
‘This is a fact that the security agencies are facing.’
German refugee officials also revealed yesterday that they have a backlog of around 770,000 asylum applications.
Turkey hosts 2.5million Syrian refugees – more than any other country in the region.
The country’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, promised the displaced at Bab Al-Salama would not be left without food or shelter but did not say whether Turkey would admit them.
Last night, aid agencies were putting up tents on the Syrian side of the border.
Aleppo, Syria’s former economic powerhouse, has been divided since mid-2012, with the opposition controlling the east and the forces of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime holding sway in the west.
But the rebel supply line to Turkey was severed on Wednesday by a government offensive backed up by Russian warplanes.
The advance prompted tens of thousands of people to flee the fighting. ‘The situation in the north countryside of Aleppo is catastrophic,’ said Maamoun Al-Khateeb, an activist and journalist. ‘Civilians are now besieged from three sides and have just one road to the Turkish territories.’
Islamic State jihadists also pose a threat, he said.
Mr Davutoglu said 60,000 to 70,000 people were ‘rushing towards the Turkish border in order to have a safe haven’. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britishbased group that relies on a network of sources on the ground, estimates 40,000 people have fled t he r egime’s of f ensive near Aleppo.
It said Russian airstrikes killed at least 21 civilians on Thursday. With much of the city in ruins, the remaining civilians are hiding in basements and in shelters among the rubble.
Russian president Vladimir Putin launched the massive aerial campaign last September to prop up Assad. The defence ministry in Moscow said its warplanes have hit 875 targets in Syria this week. Five t housand sorties have been mounted so far.
Nato secretary- general Jens Stoltenberg says the airstrikes – that mainly target opposition forces – are ‘undermining efforts to find a political solution’.
Amnesty International claims at least 200 civilians died in October and November. The human rights group accused Russia of using cluster bombs in civilian areas, which could be classed as a war crime. Moscow dismissed the claim as false.
Yesterday, Columb Strack, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Jane’s Information Group, said the Syrian government was now likely to achieve a complete encirclement of Aleppo. He warned that the remaining population in rebel-held districts of the town would probably face a humanitarian crisis.
Sherif Elsayed-Ali, deputy director of global issues at Amnesty International, said: ‘The joint Syrian-Russian onslaught on Aleppo is taking a huge toll on the civilian population, forcing many thousands to flee the attacks and fuelling fears of a potentially brutal ensuing siege as supply routes to opposition-held areas are cut.
‘The international community can hardly claim to be surprised that we are now seeing this exodus.’
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday accused Russia of complicity in the deaths of 400,000 people in the Syrian civil war. Speaking during a state visit to Senegal, Mr Erdogan said Russia was trying to set up a ‘boutique state’ for its ally Assad.
He said: ‘Russia must be held accountable for the people it has killed within Syria’s borders. By cooperating with the regime, the number of people they have killed has reached 400,000.’
‘The situation is
catastrophic’