According to the United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR, more than 70,000 Kurdish refugees are rushing towards the Turkish borders following news from Syrian and Turkey Kurdish fighters that Islamic State (IS) militants are closing into the Kurdish safe zone. Villages conquered by the IS towards the village were described as “genocidal operations.”
A Kurdish commander said that the IS militants are only 9 miles away from the border territory and had mounted artillery strikes from afar.
UNHCR Spokeswoman Selin Unal said that Syrians coming across the border near the town of Kobani are Kurdish women and children. She also said that more refugees are coming inside.
She renewed calls to the international community to step up its aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, who had fled the Syrian civil war and Kurdish refugees, which may now top the total number of 1.5 million inside the country.
Meanwhile, unrest continues in different parts of the Turkish border as security forces fired non-lethal armaments against Kurds in the border village of Ogan. Authorities had temporarily closed the border with many Syrian Kurdish refugees on the other side of the border.
The Islamic State continues to conquer different lands inside Syria and Iraq as international military support increases with France’s increased presence in the conflict providing its own air support alongside the United States.
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