130,000 Syrian refugees swarm into Turkey as IS atrocities continue

Some 130,000 refugees from neighbouring Syria have flooded into Turkey, as civilians continued to flee clashes between Islamic State (IS) militants and Kurdish forces. IS fighters have in recent days advanced into Kurdish regions of Syria that border Turkey, where fleeing refugees on Sunday reported atrocities that included stonings, beheadings and the torching of homes. On Sunday, heavy clashes broke out between the Islamic State militants and Kurdish fighters only miles from the Syrian border town of Kobani, where IS was bombarding villagers with tanks, artillery and multiple rocket launchers, Most refugees are from Kobani, a town threatened by the advancing militants.

They took our village, they took our house, they killed my son. I saw it with my own eyes.

Refugee Osman Abbas

As refugees flooded in, Turkey closed the border crossing at Kucuk Kendirciler to Turkish Kurds in a move aimed at preventing them from joining the fight in Syria. Clashes broke out as Kurds trying to approach the crossing from inside Turkey scuffled with security forces, who responded with tear gas, paint pellets and water cannons. The conflict has pushed more than a million Syrians over the border in the past three and a half years. Meanwhile, IS urged its followers on Monday to attack citizens of the United States, France and other countries which have joined a coalition to destroy the ultra-radical group. Spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani also taunted U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western “crusaders”, saying the coalition faced inevitable defeat. “It will be broken and defeated, just as all your previous campaigns were broken and defeated,” Adnani said.

We have been prepared for this. We are also prepared for worse.

Spokesman for Turkey’s disaster management agency Dogan Eskinat

Turkey Middle East