Turkey to let Syrians in ‘if necessary’

Turkey said it was ready “if necessary” to let in tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing a major Russian-backed regime offensive, as aid agencies warned Sunday of a “desperate” situation.

Thousands of people, including many women and children, are stranded at the Turkish border after an exodus triggered by fierce fighting near Syria’s second city Aleppo.

“If they reached our door and have no other choice, if necessary, we have to and will let our brothers in,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters.

“Turkey has reached the limit of its capacity to absorb the refugees," deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said. “But in the end, these people have nowhere else to go. Either they will die beneath the bombings... or we will open our borders.”

Syrian government troops advanced on Sunday toward a rebel town near the Turkish border as they pressed a Russian-backed offensive, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The town of Tal Rifaat is around 20 km from the Turkish frontier. It is one of the last rebel strongholds in the north of Aleppo province and government troops are just seven kilometres away, according to the monitor.

Turkey’s Oncupinar border crossing, which faces the Bab al-Salama frontier post inside Syria, remained closed on Sunday to thousands of refugees gathered there for a third day.

They waited desperately for the moment the gate will open, as Turkish aid trucks delivered food inside Syria.

Carrying what few belongings they still have, Syrians queued up in the cold and rain in squalid camps near the Turkish border, waiting for tents being distributed by aid agencies.

Others are reportedly sleeping in the open, in fields and on roads.

The medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said camps for displaced people in the north of Aleppo province were overwhelmed.

“From what MSF can see the situation in Azaz district is desperate, with ongoing fighting and tens of thousands of people displaced,” said Muskilda Zancada, the head of the group’s Syria mission.

The MSF said three of its hospitals had been bombed in recent days although the extent of the damage was unknown.