Beirut: Syrian army troops recaptured a new village north of Aleppo yesterday, bringing troops and allied militiamen to within a few kilometres of the Turkish border as part of a major Russian-backed offensive in the area, the Syrian government and opposition activists said.
State-run news agency Sana said army troops took control of the village of Kfeen in the northern countryside of Aleppo “after wiping out the last group of terrorists there.”
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV and the pro-Syrian, Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen station also reported Kfeen’s capture and aired live footage from the village.
The government offensive around the city of Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing toward the border with Turkey. Turkish authorities say up to 35,000 Syrians have massed along the border, which remained closed for a fourth day yesterday.
Turkey has come under mounting pressure to open its border to assist the fleeing Syrians, many of whom have been sleeping in cold weather in open fields near the Bab Al Salameh border crossing.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of refugees alone, adding that borders would only be opened for them “when necessary”.
“Obviously, as always, we will provide for our Syrian brothers and accept them when necessary,” he said. “No one should assume that just because Turkey is taking in all the refugees that it should be expected to shoulder the refugee issue alone,” he told a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Ankara.
Merkel’s visit is aimed at pressing Turkey to make good on pledges to do more to reduce the influx of refugees to Europe.
It came as 33 people died off Turkey’s coast attempting to reach Greece in two separate tragedies on Tuesday.
Turkey and Germany agreed on a set of measures to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis, including a joint diplomatic initiative aiming to halt attacks against Aleppo.
Merkel said after talks with Davutoglu that she is “not just appalled but horrified” by the suffering caused by Russian bombing in Syria.
Merkel said that Turkey and Germany will push at the United Nations for everyone to keep to a UN resolution passed in December that calls on all sides to halt without delay attacks on the civilian population.
She said: “We have been, in the past few days, not just appalled but horrified by what has been caused in the way of human suffering for tens of thousands of people by bombing — primarily from the Russian side.”
“Under such circumstances, it’s hard for peace talks to take place, and so this situation must be brought to an end quickly,” Merkel said.
Davutoglu said Aleppo “is de facto under siege. We are on the verge of a new human tragedy.”
The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the outflow of refugees, in return for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial assistance.
The EU on Wednesday finally reached an agreement on how to finance the deal.
The Turkish deputy premier said Sunday that Turkey has reached the end of its “capacity to absorb” refugees. The governor of the Turkish border province of Kilis said that Turkey would provide aid to the displaced within Syria, but would only open the gates in the event of an “extraordinary crisis.”
