Violence Forces Thousands Of Syrian Refugees Toward Turkish Border

Oncupinar has been officially shut for almost a year due to security concerns and remained closed on Saturday, but it is opened from time to time to allow refugees into Turkey, which has already taken in some 2.5 million Syrians.

“The modalities of a ceasefire itself are also being discussed and the Russians have made some constructive ideas about how a ceasefire in fact could be implemented”, Kerry said.

Government forces have been on the offensive in northern Syria, nearly encircling rebel-held parts of Aleppo and forcing thousands of people to flee toward Turkey.

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. 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.

The city itself has been divided between rebel control in the east and government control in the west since mid-2012.

Turkey is providing food, shelter and blankets to thousands of civilians who are stranded on the Syrian side of the border because of the fighting.

Both the regime and the opposition forces have always been talking about the imminent “battle of Aleppo” in apocalyptic terms. “From where we sit, it’s just not accurate”, Ryder said.

“And we will know that in the course of the next days”, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry echoed.

“This has to stop”.

Al-Moallem said the Saudi-backed opposition never meant to negotiate seriously.

The government assault around Aleppo, and advances in the south and northwest, helped to torpedo Geneva peace talks this week.

But Turkey did let more than a dozen Syrians who were injured in bombings around Aleppo to enter Turkey, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

“They talk big”, Jafari said.

Hokayem said the process was little more than “a show”, but would limp on without achieving results.

Syria’s largest city and once its commercial center, Aleppo was a crossroads of civilization for millennia.

Russian Federation has been supporting the Assad regime with airstrikes since September, which it says are targeted at “terrorist organizations” such as the Islamic State group. “They did not come to have dialogue, they did not have such orders”, he said.

Russian Federation gave heavy air support to Syria and its paramilitary allies in a major offensive into Aleppo which is seeing opposition forces in that city being cut off and put under huge pressure.

The human rights advocacy group Amnesty International urged Turkey to admit the displaced.

“It is highly probable that a large wave of people will now head our way”, Asselborn said, referring to a major migratory route via Turkey, Greece and the Balkans amid Europe’s wrangle over how to control the EU’s external borders. He said Turkey was prepared to open the gates in the event of an “extraordinary crisis”. “We are in difficulty because of the cold”. The women and children were thrown to the ground. “They came in but with a status that was not fully official”, he added.

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

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Federation must be held accountable for the civilians it had killed in Syria – saying between them Moscow and Damascus were responsible for the deaths of 400,000 people.

He said as many as 55,000 people fleeing the new regime offensive in Aleppo province were heading toward the frontier.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday it estimated that up to 20,000 people have gathered at the Bab al-Salama crossing and another 5,000 to 10,000 people displaced to nearby Azaz city.