Turkey Spurns Aid as Syrian Attacks Forces More to Flee
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Turkey has turned down offers of international aid to help it cope with an influx of Syrian refugees that has increased since President Bashar al-Assad’s forces stepped up an attack on the town of Jisr al-Shughour.
Syrians have been crossing the border for a week to escape the violence, with the Turkish state-run Anatolia news agency putting the total in Turkey at 8,421 today, up from 122 on June 8. The military used troops and tanks to seal off Jisr al-Shughour and other areas of the north and east, the Associated Press reported, citing activists and witnesses. Residents of Maarat al-Nuhman began fleeing today as the army prepared an assault on the town, Al Arabiya television reported.