Tue 31 December 2019:
Majority of civilians fleeing civil war-weary region head to areas near Turkish border, creating new refugee wave
Fleeing attacks by the Syrian regime and its allies in Idlib, over the last 48 hours some 20,000 Syrian civilians have flocked to areas close to the Turkish border.
Since the beginning of November, the number of people fleeing air attacks in Idlib has reached 284,000 people, Mohammad Hallaj, the director of Syria’s Response Coordination Group, told Anadolu Agency.
Hallaj said that if the attacks continue to intensify, there is concern that a new wave of migration may start from the Jabal Al-Zawiya area in southern Idlib.
Thousands of civilians are finding it difficult to find shelter due to the lack of aid and the few places where they can set up tents and infrastructure.
Moreover, he said, refugee camps are being inundated by floods from heavy rains, in effect trapping people in lakes of mud.
Thousands of these Syrians are homeless and in dire need of aid.
In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.
Since then, more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone as the cease-fire continues to be violated.
Over a million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks over the last year.
After a Turkish Cabinet meeting last week, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey expects a halt to these attacks as soon as possible through a new cease-fire.
According to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the Idlib province is home to around 3 million civilians, 75% of them women and children.
Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in some 3.7 million Syrians who fled their country, making Turkey the world’s top refugee-hosting country.
Ankara has so far spent $40 billion for the refugees, according to official figures.
-Anadolu Agency
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