Battle for Aleppo sends Syrians fleeing

Syrian civilians wait Friday at the Bab al-Salam border gate, hoping to cross into Turkey to escape intense fighting in the north of their country.
Syrian civilians wait Friday at the Bab al-Salam border gate, hoping to cross into Turkey to escape intense fighting in the north of their country.

BEIRUT -- Thousands of Syrians rushed toward the Turkish border Friday, fleeing a fierce government offensive and intense Russian airstrikes near Aleppo, Syria's largest city.

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AP

In this photo provided by Turkey’s Islamic aid group IHH, Syrians fleeing the confl icts in the Azaz region congregate Friday at the Bab al-Salam crossing.

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AP

The United Nations estimated that nearly 40,000 refugees massed in recent days in several border areas of northern Syria, including about 20,000 at the Bab al-Salam crossing, where migrants waited Friday for the border to Turkey to open.

Turkey, an ally of the Syrian opposition, promised humanitarian help for the displaced civilians, including food and shelter, but it did not say whether it would let them cross into the country, already burdened with hundreds of thousands of refugees.

"The attacks and bombings by the Russian planes and the Syrian regime have left our brothers with nowhere else to go," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a televised speech.

The U.N. estimated that nearly 40,000 newly displaced people have massed in recent days in several border areas of northern Syria, including about 20,000 near the Bab al-Salam border crossing. Turkish authorities increased security at the crossing, and the pro-government A Haber news channel said all police and military leaves were canceled.

The international aid group Mercy Corps said that among those fleeing toward Turkey were residents of rebel-held areas of Aleppo who feared they would soon be besieged by government forces, while others were running from troops advancing in rural areas.

The Syrian government offensive began earlier this week in rural areas north of Aleppo, the provincial capital, and appears aimed at eventually encircling the city. 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.

Turkey, which is hosting more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has kept its border mostly shut to new arrivals for more than a year.

In keeping with that policy, a Turkish aid agency erected tents and distributed food on the Syrian side of the border, said Majid Najar, a Syrian activist helping with the aid effort in Bab al-Salam.

"People are still coming, and the numbers are increasing," he said, speaking by telephone from the other side of the border.

The human-rights group Amnesty International urged Turkey to admit the displaced. Turkey "must not close its doors to people in desperate need of safety," said Amnesty's Global Issues Director Sherif Elsayed-Ali.

Turkish TV showed Syrians walking between long rows of large white tents at Bab al-Salam, and Davutoglu said tens of thousands more were on the move.

Abdulgani Fettah told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency that he escaped to the border after his hometown of Bab came under heavy bombardment.

"We are asking that Turkey looks after us and opens its doors to us," Fettah said. "We are in difficulty because of the cold. There are sick people, children, women, and wounded people. They came to the border in difficult conditions."

There were conflicting estimates of the number of displaced near the border.

The U.N. said up to 20,000 people gathered at the Bab al-Salam crossing. Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said another 5,000 to 10,000 people reached the town of Azaz and that 10,000 arrived in the town of Afrin.

The Turkish Islamic charity IHH said about 50,000 people arrived since Thursday in the area of Bab al-Salam. The group is erecting tents on the Syrian side of the border, said spokesman Serkan Nergis. The charity runs about 10 camps for displaced Syrians on the frontier.

'everyone would leave'

Once Syria's thriving commercial center, Aleppo has been divided since 2012 between government- and rebel-controlled districts.

The United Nations estimates 300,000 people still live in Aleppo.

Residents of the city have mostly stayed put for now because they know that they will be prevented from entering Turkey, said Ameen al-Halabi, an activist living in Aleppo.

"If people had guarantees they could enter Turkey, everyone would leave," he said. "I would leave."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest expressed concern that government forces backed by Russia are threatening Aleppo.

"It does look like a terrible humanitarian situation inside of Syria and it is poised to get worse. And that is something that we continue to be quite concerned about," Earnest said.

"There is no denying that the efforts of the Russian military to buck up and strengthen the Assad regime's grip on power only gives the Assad regime less of an incentive to come to the negotiating table and act constructively in conversations there," he added.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia of using imprecise "dumb bombs" that have killed large numbers of civilians.

"This has to stop. Nobody has any question about that," Kerry told reporters at the State Department.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Amsterdam that the "intense Russian airstrikes mainly targeting opposition groups in Syria are undermining the efforts to find a political solution to the conflict."

Stoltenberg, in the Netherlands for a meeting with European Union defense ministers, said Russia's actions were "causing increased tensions and violations of Turkish airspace."

The surge in refugees from Syria to Europe has put pressure on European governments, particularly in Germany, which took in more than 1 million asylum seekers and other migrants last year.

"Everyone needs to be aware -- this applies particularly to the Assad regime and also to Russia -- that a worsening of the humanitarian situation further reduces the chances of success at the political talks" on Syria, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. "We have to move precisely in the opposite direction."

The Syrian rebels have been able to hold positions in the Aleppo area before, but the Russian bombing, along with reinforcements sent to Assad by his allies in Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, appear to have tilted the balance in the battlefield.

Russia began its airstrikes in late September, ostensibly going after Islamic State extremists who control large areas of northeastern Syria. However, critics say Russian warplanes have struck a wide range of opposition targets to bolster Assad, a longtime ally.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its warplanes hit 875 targets across Syria this week, including in the area of the current offensive.

Increased airstrikes

Mercy Corps, which has been delivering food to civilians in northern Syria, said it had to stop distributions in opposition-held areas of Aleppo earlier this week because the sole access road became too dangerous.

The Russian airstrikes north of Aleppo have "hugely increased" in the past two weeks, said Rae McGrath, head of Mercy Corps operations in Turkey and northern Syria.

Separately, President Barack Obama's administration is preparing for possible airdrops of humanitarian relief over other besieged areas of Syria.

Administration officials emphasized that airdropped relief is only in the planning stages and has not yet been approved.

U.S. and coalition aircraft began bombing Islamic State-held areas elsewhere in Syria 18 months ago. But approval of the airdrop plan, while a noncombat operation, would mark the first time U.S. planes have flown directly into the contested areas of Syria's civil war.

U.S. officials, who said the Pentagon has been asked to prepare relief plans, declined to discuss in detail the closely held consideration of the issue. But they said any cooperation with Russia would be only to prevent Russian aircraft from interfering with U.S. operations.

An international donor conference, held Thursday in London, pledged more than $10 billion -- including $900 million from the United States -- in additional humanitarian aid to Syria and surrounding countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees.

A United Nations-led attempt to start indirect talks between a government delegation and opposition representatives in Geneva was adjourned Wednesday as the sides bickered. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said the process will resume Feb. 25.

The opposition's chief negotiator, Mohammed Alloush, said late Thursday that his delegation is unlikely to return to Geneva because of what he said was a "merciless" bombing campaign by Russia and the Syrian air force this week.

At the U.N., Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow plans to present new ideas on how to restart the talks, including a cease-fire, at a meeting of key countries Thursday in Munich. He said Moscow hopes others in the 17-nation group will "shoulder responsibility" in restarting the talks.

Tensions ran high outside the U.N. Security Council, as the United Kingdom and France blamed Syria's offensive near Aleppo for the suspension of talks.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the opposition couldn't be expected to negotiate "with a gun to their heads," and British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said Churkin "needs to look in the mirror and understand where the responsibility lies."

Information for this article was contributed by Karin Laub, Suzan Fraser, Zeina Karam, Bassem Mroue and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press; by Liz Sly, Zakaria Zakaria and Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post; and by Ian Wishart, Henry Meyer, Selcan Hacaoglu, Gregory Viscusi, Patrick Donahue, Tony Czuczka and Arne Delfs of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 02/06/2016

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