OhYesIdid
23rd June 2011, 17:13
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/06/2011623134246255582.html
From aljazeera:
Syrian troops and armoured vehicles are sweeping through villages in an advance towards the Turkish border, witnesses say.
Soldiers drove through the village of Khirbet al-Jouz, just 500 metres away from the Turkish border, on Thursday, according to the witness accounts.
There were also unconfirmed reports that forces were firing machine guns randomly in the nearby village of Managh.
Syrian armoured personnel carriers were visible on a road running along the top of a hill, and machine-gun fire was heard although it was not clear who the troops were firing at.
Speaking to Al Jazeera by phone from Khirbet al-Jouz, Mohamed Fezo, a witness, said: "At 6:30 in the morning about 30 tanks and several buses carrying thugs and intelligence operatives attacked Khirbet al-Jouz. They opened fire randomly across the village.
(http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/syria/) "Most of the villages population has escaped to the Turkish border expecting the village to be attacked. When the army did attack, the people escaped to Turkey, around 2,000 of them. The only people who remained in the village were the elderly who couldn't escape. We have received confirmed reports that some of these men have been arrested."
The Turkish Red Crescent said 600 refugees crossed from over Syria to escape the latest assault.
Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from the Turkish border village of Guvecci, said that she could see Syrian soldiers from where she was.
"We can see soldiers and armoured trucks just across the border, within view from this refugee camp that we're in," she said.
"We were told at 6:30 this morning, that people here received calls from Syria saying that Syrian troops had moved in with tanks and armoured vehicles and they were clearing the village out."
Buses for refugees
Our correspondent said a building in Syrian territory on which a Turkish flag could be seen earlier, was now carrying a Syrian flag and had snipers based on the roof.
"We can see men carrying rifles standing on the building and we're being told that those are snipers up there, on patrol," she said.
She said though Turkey had not issued any official statement, the authorities did bring in buses for those refugees who wanted to evacuate the border area.
Several hundred people broke through the barbed wire marking the frontier between the two countries and were seen advancing into Turkish territory on a road used by Turkish border guards, a few kilometres from Guvecci.
They were flanked by Turkish paramilitary police vehicles and minibuses, called apparently to ferry the refugees to tent cities the Turkish Red Crescent has erected in the border province of Hatay.
Another group of several hundred people was seen further down the same road, walking towards the Turkish security forces' vehicles.
At the weekend, the Turkish Red Crescent announced it had begun providing urgent humanitarian aid to those massed on the other side of the border.
More than 1,300 civilians have been killed and some 10,000 people arrested, according to Syrian human rights groups, in the crackdown that has seen troops dispatched to crush pro-democracy protests across Syria since March.
From aljazeera:
Syrian troops and armoured vehicles are sweeping through villages in an advance towards the Turkish border, witnesses say.
Soldiers drove through the village of Khirbet al-Jouz, just 500 metres away from the Turkish border, on Thursday, according to the witness accounts.
There were also unconfirmed reports that forces were firing machine guns randomly in the nearby village of Managh.
Syrian armoured personnel carriers were visible on a road running along the top of a hill, and machine-gun fire was heard although it was not clear who the troops were firing at.
Speaking to Al Jazeera by phone from Khirbet al-Jouz, Mohamed Fezo, a witness, said: "At 6:30 in the morning about 30 tanks and several buses carrying thugs and intelligence operatives attacked Khirbet al-Jouz. They opened fire randomly across the village.
(http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/syria/) "Most of the villages population has escaped to the Turkish border expecting the village to be attacked. When the army did attack, the people escaped to Turkey, around 2,000 of them. The only people who remained in the village were the elderly who couldn't escape. We have received confirmed reports that some of these men have been arrested."
The Turkish Red Crescent said 600 refugees crossed from over Syria to escape the latest assault.
Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from the Turkish border village of Guvecci, said that she could see Syrian soldiers from where she was.
"We can see soldiers and armoured trucks just across the border, within view from this refugee camp that we're in," she said.
"We were told at 6:30 this morning, that people here received calls from Syria saying that Syrian troops had moved in with tanks and armoured vehicles and they were clearing the village out."
Buses for refugees
Our correspondent said a building in Syrian territory on which a Turkish flag could be seen earlier, was now carrying a Syrian flag and had snipers based on the roof.
"We can see men carrying rifles standing on the building and we're being told that those are snipers up there, on patrol," she said.
She said though Turkey had not issued any official statement, the authorities did bring in buses for those refugees who wanted to evacuate the border area.
Several hundred people broke through the barbed wire marking the frontier between the two countries and were seen advancing into Turkish territory on a road used by Turkish border guards, a few kilometres from Guvecci.
They were flanked by Turkish paramilitary police vehicles and minibuses, called apparently to ferry the refugees to tent cities the Turkish Red Crescent has erected in the border province of Hatay.
Another group of several hundred people was seen further down the same road, walking towards the Turkish security forces' vehicles.
At the weekend, the Turkish Red Crescent announced it had begun providing urgent humanitarian aid to those massed on the other side of the border.
More than 1,300 civilians have been killed and some 10,000 people arrested, according to Syrian human rights groups, in the crackdown that has seen troops dispatched to crush pro-democracy protests across Syria since March.