Federica Mogherini, the EU’s representative for foreign affairs, said that Turkey had both a moral and legal duty to help genuine asylum seekers.
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“We have received already 5,000 of them, another 50,000 to 55,000 are on their way and we can not leave them there alone because air strikes are ongoing and also regime forces supported by Iran Shia militias are attacking these civilians as well”.
Top EU officials on Saturday reminded Turkey of its worldwide obligations to keep its frontiers open to refugees as thousands fleeing a new government offensive in Syria remained camped out along its southern border.
The leader of a prominent rebel group active in northwestern Syria confirmed that government-allied forces were tightening their grip on the northern Aleppo countryside, and that heavy Russian bombing carried on unabated.
What is clear is that Syria has been emboldened by Russia’s intervention.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said some 120 fighters on all sides had been killed around Ratyan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that Russian Federation must account for the people it has killed in Syria, arguing that Russian Federation and Assad regime were together responsible for 400,000 deaths there.
Such a loss could also significantly weaken Western-backed rebel groups fighting against Isis (which the regime says it is also fighting), further empowering the terror group in Syria. Especially that the U.S. current stance does not seem optimistic according to a source that participated at the ministerial meeting with U.S. Secretary John Kerry, held for the friend-countries to Syrian people.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect Turkey is making intensive preparations for a military invasion of Syria.
“The kingdom is now ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against Islamic State) may agree to carry out in Syria”, said Saudi defence minister Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, as quoted by The Daily Express.
“I don’t think they would dare do that…”
The war between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and Syrian rebels began in 2011.
The number of Syrians trying to cross into Turkey amid an upsurge of fighting in northern Syria has almost doubled, a Turkish official says.
“Our doors are not closed, but at the moment there is no need to host such people inside our borders”, he told Associated Press news agency, adding that the refugees had been given food, blankets and tents.
Aleppo, Syria’s commercial hub, has been divided for years between a section under government control and areas in the grip of rebels.
A Red Cross spokesman told AFP that efforts were underway to deliver aid to northern Aleppo but warned that “access is difficult”.
The U.N. envoy, de Mistura, has said the Geneva talks should resume by February 25, though it’s unclear if the delegations will return.
“Why did the opposition that left Geneva complain about the offensive in Aleppo, which is actually targeted against Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front) and other radical extremist groups?” said Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Alexey Borodavkin.
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Activists said the opposition felt betrayed, reporting that weapon supplies from worldwide backers had dried up in advance of the Geneva peace talks, despite stepped-up Russian Federation military action.
