Ukraine in Arabic | Thousands of Syrians are crossing into Turkey
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ More than 130,000 Syrian Kurds fleeing an advance by Islamic State militants have crossed into Turkey in the past three days and the authorities are preparing for more, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday.
“We are prepared for the worst scenario, which is an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees,” Kurtulmus told reporters in the capital Ankara.
"If ISIL attacks continue in the Kobane region, Turkey may face an intensive influx. We have taken all necessary measures in the event of a continued influx of displaced people. We don't want this, of course, but we are ready," he said.
Turkey's emergencies directorate, the AFAD, stated that the authorities are clamping down at the border with Syria.
"The border is open, but only at one place at Mürşitpınar, for better organisation of crossings," an AFAD official said.
"A single point has been opened for displaced Syrians, so that we can conduct identity checks and give first aid, vaccinating people if necessary," the official added.
Militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized dozens of villages in the past week as they advance on the town of Ain al-Arab, called Kobane in Kurdish, near the border.
Until now, Kobane, the third largest Kurdish population center in Syria, had been relatively safe and had taken in 200,000 people displaced from elsewhere in Syria.
Meanwhile, Syrian government air strikes killed at least 42 people, including 16 children, in Idlib province in the northwest, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated on Sept. 22.
The air raids on the afternoon and evening of Sept. 21 killed 19 people, including six children, outside the city of Saraqeb, and another 23 people, among them 10 children, in the town of Ehsim, the monitoring group said.
The province is largely under rebel control outside its capital, Idlib city.
The strikes outside Saraqeb hit an area where civilians were sheltering after fleeing repeated government air strikes on the city, the Observatory said.
