- Title: TURKEY: Refugees pin hopes on rebels recapturing Aleppo.
- Date: 9th August 2012
- Summary: VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
- Embargoed: 24th August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Conflict,International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA5OEVG7MP8SGQ2CCDWE4LWKP57
- Story Text: Refugees taking shelter in Turkey say they await good news from Syrian rebels, as government troops push back the Free Syrian Army in an Aleppo offensive.
Syrian refugees were optimistic on Thursday (August 9) as Syrian troops and rebels fought over the country's biggest city.
Families seeking shelter in the neighbouring country Turkey pinned their hopes on rebel fighters returning for battle over Aleppo.
"The Free Syrian Army is still in Aleppo, we believe they seized half of Aleppo. The Syrian army says they took back Aleppo but its not true. The Free Syrian Army is there. It's just a tactic. I have relatives there and they say FSA has taken half of Aleppo," said Yasin, one of the refugees in Kilis.
"The Free Syrian Army has withdrawn just for a while but then they go ahead, they are waiting for the Syrian army to go forward and they will attack again," another refugee Said Kaddur added.
Government troops assaulted rebel strongholds in Aleppo on Wednesday (August 8) in one of their biggest ground attacks since rebels seized chunks of Aleppo three weeks ago.
Late in the day, each side gave conflicting accounts of how they stood.
President Bashar al-Assad must win the battle for Aleppo if he is to reassert his authority nationwide, although diverting military forces for an offensive to regain control there has already allowed rebels to seize large swathes of countryside in the north.
The intensity of the conflict in Aleppo and elsewhere suggests that Assad remains determined to cling to power, with support from Iran and Russia, despite setbacks such as this week's defection of his newly installed prime minister.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition watchdog, said more than 60 people had been killed across Syria so far on Wednesday, including 15 civilians in Aleppo. It put Tuesday's death toll at more than 240 nationwide.
More than 2,000 people fled violence in Syria to reach neighbouring Turkey in the past two days, bringing the total number of Syrians who have sought refuge there to more than 50,000, Turkish authorities said on Thursday.
The rate of refugee flows has risen and there are fears there could be an exodus from Aleppo.
There were 50,227 Syrians in Turkey as of Thursday, after 2,219 people crossed the border on Aug 8-9, the state-run Disaster and Emergency ENDS - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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