Turkey warned the United Nations that it would soon need urgent international help to deal with a growing Syrian refugee population yesterday after a surge in the number of civilians fleeing President Bashar al-Assad's latest onslaught.
Syrian refugees and local residents pray before a demonstration against Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad Photo: Reuters
By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
7:31PM BST 06 Apr 2012
Thousands of civilians, many bringing with them accounts of mass gavel and attacks by helicopter gunships, have escaped into Turkey through cross-border smuggling routes as Mr Assad's forces stepped up an offensive in Idlib province close to the frontier.
At least 29 people were killed across the country, according to opposition human rights groups, just days before a ceasefire brokered by Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League special envoy, is meant to come into effect. w
Mr Assad has claimed that he has begun to withdraw both troops and heavy weapons from population centres in compliance with the plan, but sustained tank fire was reported throughout the day in Homs, the nearby town of Rastan and Douma, a satellite town of the capital Damascus.
Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said he had telephoned Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, to ask for observers to assess the situation after 2,800 refugees fled across the border on Thursday alone – the highest single day figure of the year-long uprising.
With the total refugee population nearing 25,000, Turkey has sought international backing to mount a military cross-border incursion to set up a buffer zone in northern Syria but has so far been rebuffed.
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Echoing the scepticism of many European officials, Mr Davutoglu said he had told the UN chief that the worsening refugee crisis was evidence that the Syrian government had little intention of complying with the ceasefire, which comes into force next Thursday.
"I have told him that the arrivals have doubled in rate after Bashar al-Assad said he would implement Kofi Annan's plan," he said. "Those who are giving him time should also know that the number of fleeing Syrians is increasing and this is turning into an international problem."
Many of the arriving refugees had fled the town of Taftanaz, a rebel stronghold, where amateur photographs that emerged yesterday showed more than a dozen corpses shrouded in blankets laid in a long trench as a mass funeral took place.
The refugees said their town had been virtually destroyed after a three day government offensive to clear it of rebels.
"They devastated Taftanaz, all houses demolished, everything destroyed," one refugee, Hikmet Saban, was told Turkey's state news agency.
"Helicopters and tanks are bombarding continuously. Taftanaz has been burned to the ground for three days."
Others reported that the Syrian army had once again been laying mines along the border to stem the flow of refugees.
Despite the worsening violence, which suggests that Mr Assad is capturing as much territory as possible before the ceasefire curtails his ability to act as openly, tens of thousands of unarmed protesters massed in towns and cities across the country for the weekly Friday anti-government demonstrations.
Opposition groups said the protesters had come under live fire in Douma as well as the cities of Homs and Idlib. Peaceful demonstrations calling for Mr Assad's overthrow have continued since the start of the uprising despite being eclipsed by an armed rebellion that was launched last Autumn
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