'100,000 Syrians trapped' as IS advances near Turkish border

[WhiteTara]

Source: AFP

Beirut (AFP) - At least 100,000 people were trapped Friday along Syria's border with Turkey after the Islamic State group swept through rebel territory in Aleppo province, rights groups and activists said.

The shock IS advance on two rebel-held towns came as the jihadist group is facing an offensive further east in its own heartland of Raqa province.

IS fighters cut a key road between the rebel towns of Azaz, close to the Turkish border, and nearby Marea, journalist Maamoun Khateeb told AFP from Azaz.

"This is a disaster," Khateeb said, adding that some 15,000 people were now besieged in Marea.

The jihadist onslaught threatens tens of thousands of internally displaced Syrians living in informal camps near the border, closed by Turkey for several months.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/100-000-syrians-trapped-advances-near-turkish-border-115439174.html?nhp=1

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[secondwind]

1. what a nightmare... will this never end.. :-(

[6chars]

2. bummer, man

[romanic]

3. ISIS cowards running to one of thier master suppliers (Turkey)

They're chickenshit running from the advances in the east.

[sulphurdunn]

4. Is there anything like a real military campaign

being waged to actually fight these ISIS fuckers? Because it sure doesn't seem like it.

[daleo]

8. ISIS was fleeing a government offensive

And, to escape that offensive, they moved into territory held by a different rebel group. That's how I read it, anyway.

[sulphurdunn]

9. Makes sense,

but at some point they must be contained, surrounded and annihilated. Nothing so far even suggests a strategy exists for that.

[daleo]

10. There are lots of contending factions

And external powers involved, supporting those factions. ISIS benefits from that, I think.

With shifting alliances and big power involvement, it's hard to tell who supports whom, on any given day. Sadly, a lot of powerful people seem to prefer it this way.

[sulphurdunn]

11. Bingo!

[7962]

5. So much for Russia "turning the tide" in favor of the Govt forces

The reality is they flew missions until they ran out of spare parts, then they left

[uhnope]

7. Russia just needs to hold another symphony concert and declare mission accomplished

[moondust]

6. Some of those camps have already been bombed.

Last edited Fri May 27, 2016, 10:12 PM - Edit history (1)

I think by Assad/Putin forces. Pretty obvious why the refugees wanted to escape Syria and did not want to set up camps on Syrian territory.

Bombing of Syrian refugee camp could be war crime, says UN chief