AI
Sunday, July 22, 2012 11:07:12 PM
Syrian refugees clash with police in Turkey border camps
July 23, 2012 12:47 AM - Agence France Presse
A Syrian refugee argues with Turkish soldiers
outside the refugee camp in Kilis.
KILIS: Turkish police fired tear gas on stone-throwing Syrian refugees who were protesting Sunday at the lack of food and water at camps on the border with their conflict-ravaged homeland.
A Turkish official said demonstrations erupted at two of the 10 camps set up along the border which are sheltering about 40,000 Syrians who have fled the escalating violence at home.
“The clashes were some of the most violent of recent months,” the official told AFP.
The unrest flared after Syrian rebel fighters seized a nearby border post after hours of fighting during the night, the third now held held by the anti-regime militants.
“We have had no food for three days,” said a young Syrian boy standing outside the container city of Kilis, which is home to some 15,000 people who have taken refuge from President Bashar Assad’s bloody crackdown.
“We have no water. They give us cards for shopping but we need money, we need weapons to take to our fellow fighters,” said Ahmet Abbas.
The Kilis camp lies nearby the Oncupinar border crossing which faces the Al-Salama outpost on the Syrian side, the latest to be seized by the rebels.
“Kill us!” cried a Syrian woman carrying a baby in her lap, as dozens of gendarmerie forces and police were passing by.
“Get rid of us,” she shouted.
Refugees at the Kilis camp said two demonstrators has been killed but the Turkish official said there was no confirmation of any deaths, although one Turkish policeman was injured.
After the clashes, many refugees gathered outside the camp, and some were leaving Turkey in their cars, heading back toward the Syrian side of the border.
Similar protests erupted at the Islahiye camp about 90 kilometers away, the official said.
Turkish officials say the country has invested $200 million helping refugees.
Earlier this month, a fire in refugee camps in southern Turkey’s Hatay province killed two people. Officials said the blaze was caused by an electrical short-circuit.
“Police, soldiers are Alawites. Therefore, they don’t like us here,” said another refugee Sabri Hallac. “We escaped from Assad, but here we are treated the same.”
“We don’t have money to sustain our life here. They are selling one loaf of bread for one Turkish lira [55 cents],” said Hallac. “Everybody here will starve to death.”
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on July 23, 2012, on page 8.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jul-23/181575-syrian-refugees-clash-with-police-in-turkey-border-camps.ashx#axzz21PXlfW9Z
========
Syria rebels fail to seize post on Jordan border: security
July 21, 2012 04:45 PM - Agence France Presse
Children hold opposition flags during a protest against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
in Ghadfeh, near Idlib July 20, 2012. REUTERS/Shaam News Network/Handout
AMMAN: The rebel Free Syrian Army tried on Saturday to overrun the Nassib border with Jordan but were repulsed by Syrian government troops, a Jordanian security official told AFP.
"Opposition fighters from the Free Syrian Army tried at noon today to seize control of the Nassib border crossing but failed after confrontations with the Syrian army," the official said.
"We could hear from our side of the border the sound of gunfire and clashes on the Syrian side," he added.
His remarks came as officials in neighbouring Iraq said rebels controlled one of the three main border crossings with Syria despite shelling by the Syrian army.
And an AFP photographer said on Friday that rebels were in full control of the Bab al-Hawa border post with Turkey after seizing it from the army.
Nassib is a border crossing from the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the 16-month uprising against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Jordanian border town of Ramtha -- home to a large number of Syrian refugees -- lies on the other side of the border post.
Jordan is hosting more than 140,000 Syrians, including some 1,000 who sought refuge in Ramtha's Bashabsheh housing complex, a military-guarded compound.
The tiny kingdom is also building more camps to house the refugees.
Jordan has said it is dealing "cautiously" with developments inside Syria.
"The army and security services are acting calmly and wisely in line with the current situation," Information Minister Samih Maaytah told AFP on Friday.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have poured across the borders of neighbouring countries in recent days, with up to 30,000 fleeing into Lebanon, according to the UN refugee agency, and others seeking haven in Jordan and Turkey.
Iraqi officials have said Syrian refugees had attempted to enter Iraq but Baghdad had ordered its security forces not to allow them to do so.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jul-21/181468-syria-rebels-fail-to-seize-post-on-jordan-border-security.ashx#axzz21PXlfW9Z
July 23, 2012 12:47 AM - Agence France Presse
A Syrian refugee argues with Turkish soldiers
outside the refugee camp in Kilis.
KILIS: Turkish police fired tear gas on stone-throwing Syrian refugees who were protesting Sunday at the lack of food and water at camps on the border with their conflict-ravaged homeland.
A Turkish official said demonstrations erupted at two of the 10 camps set up along the border which are sheltering about 40,000 Syrians who have fled the escalating violence at home.
“The clashes were some of the most violent of recent months,” the official told AFP.
The unrest flared after Syrian rebel fighters seized a nearby border post after hours of fighting during the night, the third now held held by the anti-regime militants.
“We have had no food for three days,” said a young Syrian boy standing outside the container city of Kilis, which is home to some 15,000 people who have taken refuge from President Bashar Assad’s bloody crackdown.
“We have no water. They give us cards for shopping but we need money, we need weapons to take to our fellow fighters,” said Ahmet Abbas.
The Kilis camp lies nearby the Oncupinar border crossing which faces the Al-Salama outpost on the Syrian side, the latest to be seized by the rebels.
“Kill us!” cried a Syrian woman carrying a baby in her lap, as dozens of gendarmerie forces and police were passing by.
“Get rid of us,” she shouted.
Refugees at the Kilis camp said two demonstrators has been killed but the Turkish official said there was no confirmation of any deaths, although one Turkish policeman was injured.
After the clashes, many refugees gathered outside the camp, and some were leaving Turkey in their cars, heading back toward the Syrian side of the border.
Similar protests erupted at the Islahiye camp about 90 kilometers away, the official said.
Turkish officials say the country has invested $200 million helping refugees.
Earlier this month, a fire in refugee camps in southern Turkey’s Hatay province killed two people. Officials said the blaze was caused by an electrical short-circuit.
“Police, soldiers are Alawites. Therefore, they don’t like us here,” said another refugee Sabri Hallac. “We escaped from Assad, but here we are treated the same.”
“We don’t have money to sustain our life here. They are selling one loaf of bread for one Turkish lira [55 cents],” said Hallac. “Everybody here will starve to death.”
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on July 23, 2012, on page 8.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jul-23/181575-syrian-refugees-clash-with-police-in-turkey-border-camps.ashx#axzz21PXlfW9Z
========
Syria rebels fail to seize post on Jordan border: security
July 21, 2012 04:45 PM - Agence France Presse
Children hold opposition flags during a protest against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
in Ghadfeh, near Idlib July 20, 2012. REUTERS/Shaam News Network/Handout
AMMAN: The rebel Free Syrian Army tried on Saturday to overrun the Nassib border with Jordan but were repulsed by Syrian government troops, a Jordanian security official told AFP.
"Opposition fighters from the Free Syrian Army tried at noon today to seize control of the Nassib border crossing but failed after confrontations with the Syrian army," the official said.
"We could hear from our side of the border the sound of gunfire and clashes on the Syrian side," he added.
His remarks came as officials in neighbouring Iraq said rebels controlled one of the three main border crossings with Syria despite shelling by the Syrian army.
And an AFP photographer said on Friday that rebels were in full control of the Bab al-Hawa border post with Turkey after seizing it from the army.
Nassib is a border crossing from the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the 16-month uprising against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Jordanian border town of Ramtha -- home to a large number of Syrian refugees -- lies on the other side of the border post.
Jordan is hosting more than 140,000 Syrians, including some 1,000 who sought refuge in Ramtha's Bashabsheh housing complex, a military-guarded compound.
The tiny kingdom is also building more camps to house the refugees.
Jordan has said it is dealing "cautiously" with developments inside Syria.
"The army and security services are acting calmly and wisely in line with the current situation," Information Minister Samih Maaytah told AFP on Friday.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have poured across the borders of neighbouring countries in recent days, with up to 30,000 fleeing into Lebanon, according to the UN refugee agency, and others seeking haven in Jordan and Turkey.
Iraqi officials have said Syrian refugees had attempted to enter Iraq but Baghdad had ordered its security forces not to allow them to do so.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jul-21/181468-syria-rebels-fail-to-seize-post-on-jordan-border-security.ashx#axzz21PXlfW9Z
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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