Syrians fleeing the northern embattled city of Aleppo wait on February 6, 2016 in Bab-Al Salam, near the city of Azaz, northern Syria.
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Some Turkish leaders worry that accepting those who are fleeing Russian airstrikes will give Moscow more leverage to impose its will on the outcome of the war. The family was briefly detained by Turkish officials who let the Syrians go after seeing their dire situation, Mr. Hamidi said on Sunday.
However last night Turkey had resisted European Union pressure to open the border-crossing for the refugees.
Any hopes of a ceasefire were dampened by Assad’s foreign minister, who said it would be all but impossible to stop the fighting while rebels were able to pass freely across the borders with Turkey and Jordan.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that his country would keep its “open border policy” for the refugees, adding that 5,000 of them have already been allowed into Turkey.
There are no beaches along Syria’s border with the southern Turkish province of Kilis.
“Turkey has reached the end of its capacity to absorb (refugees)”, Kurtulmus said.
“I can say, from the achievements for our armed forces… that we are now on track to end the conflict”, he said. “Either they will die beneath the bombings… or we will open our borders”. If Greece failed to do so, Brussels could allow other member states to extend border controls for up to two years – an option officials say they want to avoid at all costs. They have become mere pawns in the global conflict between the U.S. and Russian Federation, and the regional war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Aleppo, once the country’s most populous city, is now on the verge of being retaken by government forces.
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces have been advancing across the north in recent days behind a curtain of heavy Russian airstrikes, and could soon encircle rebel strongholds in Aleppo, once the country’s largest city and commercial hub.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said air strikes, thought to be from Russian planes, hit villages north of Aleppo on Sunday including Bashkoy, Haritan and Anadan, the latter two near the road to Turkey.
Aleppo has been divided for years, with government forces controlling a section and other parts in the hands of rebels. The main supply line to the Turkish border has already been cut and many residents are reportedly looking to leave, anticipating severe shortages in coming days.
Dr. Ahmad Abdelaziz, of the Syrian American Medical Society, a humanitarian organization, said there were only four general surgeons for the entire city.
“It’s very bad. We have Russian airstrikes three to six times a day. We expect a lot of people to get out of the city if the situation remains like this, if there is no improvement”, he said. This has stoked fears that the army is looking to surround the rebels and impose a siege on them and the hundreds of thousands of civilians in that part of the city.
“People are sleeping out in the open in the freezing cold with little children”, she said. Turkey, under pressure to stem the flow of migrants to Europe, has kept its border shut in the face of the growing crowds.
Panicked refugees stalled at Turkey as Syrian regime forces bombard Aleppo.
Pope Francis intervened on Sunday with a plea for aid to Syrians fleeing the five-year war.
Mustafa said that as many as 100,000 people have fled Aleppo and the surrounding countryside, heading to the border and countryside to the west.
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Pope Francis urged the global community “to spare no effort to urgently bring parties back to the negotiating table”, and appealed for generosity to ensure the “survival and dignity” of displaced Syrians.
