Those at the border were at press time reportedly not allowed to cross, but Turkey said it has enabled measures to shelter and feed those displaced.
Advertisement
A Turkish charity says about 50,000 people fleeing intense fighting in northern Syria have arrived at a Syrian-Turkish border crossing.
In northeastern Syria, various groups backed by the U.S. and linked under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces were also making progress but Aleppo in the northwest was in danger of falling to Syrian government forces, Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said Friday. She said the displaced are “Syrians in need for global protection”, and that this was the message delivered in the meeting.
It said between 5,000 to 10,000 refugees had also fled to the nearby city of Azaz.
The advance threatens to surround the city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, landing a major blow to the rebels. Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad captured several towns and villages, driving a wedge into rebel-held areas and cutting off a supply road to Turkey.
Iranian officials have said that Iranians have an “obligation” to protect Syrian Shiite shrines.
The Guard’s top commander, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, said at the funeral Saturday that Iran has no plans to send combat troops to Syria.
Iranian news agencies said Friday that one of the Islamic Republic’s generals had been killed in the assault of the city.
The Syrian Army on Friday retook a strategic town on the doorstep of Daraa, a contested southern city that lies between Damascus and the Jordan border, according to activists and the Syrian state news agency.
“The reason behind the collapse of the talks in Geneva was the arrogance of the Syrian regime and the arrogance of the merciless Russian airstrikes on civilians”, said Alloush at his Geneva hotel.
Syrians fleeing the conflicts in the Azaz region waitat the Turkidh border.
A United Nations official, citing estimates made for emergency relief planning, told CNN that 321,000 civilians are thought to be in a rebel-held area east of Aleppo.
The UN Security Council was due to meet later on Friday to discuss the faltering peace process, as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation head Jens Stoltenberg warned Russian air strikes were “undermining the efforts to find a political solution”.
Aleppo province is one of the main strongholds of Syria’s opposition, which is facing possibly its worst moment since the country’s brutal conflict began in 2011.
Air offensives by Russian fighter jets in Syria have recently been the source of diplomatic strain between Ankara and Moscow since a Russian SU-24 violating Turkish airspace was intercepted and shot down on November 24 by Turkish F-16 fighters.
The father of four said he has been waiting for three days at the Turkish borders hoping to cross into the other side with no luck.
Turkish prime minister Davutoglu had earlier accused Mr Al Assad’s supporters of “committing the same war crimes” as the regime. Amateur video showed thousands, including women and children, running with their belongings toward the frontier.
Advertisement
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said some 120 fighters on all sides had been killed around Ratyan.
