80,000 Syrians displaced in past 5 days

By Burak Karacaoglu and Esref Musa

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - At least 80,000 Syrians moved near Turkey’s border in the past five days following intense attacks by Bashar al-Assad]s regime, Russia and Iran backed-groups in this northern Syrian province, the Director of Syria's Response Coordination Group Mohammad Halaj said Friday.

Halaj said at least 180,000 civilians were displaced since the beginning of November in Idlib due to the attacks.

He said Russia and the regime attacks hospitals, schools, mosques and houses to force civilians out of the city and keep them away from their homes. He keeps data on displaced people in Idlib that is announced as a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Since then, more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone.

According to the local administration, Idlib is home to 2.4 million and 1.3 million internally displaced persons. If aggression by the regime and its allies continues, Turkey and the Europe face the risk of another refugee influx.

More than 1 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border.

Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in nearly 4 million fleeing Syrians, making Turkey the world’s top refugee-hosting country.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut