Nearly 2,000 more Syrians flee to Turkey to escape violence

Arriving in the border villages of Bükülmez, Kavalcık and Kuşaklı, a group of 1,638 Syrians sought shelter in Turkey. The group includes a general, four colonels, a lieutenant colonel, four lieutenants and two master sergeants. According to Anatolia, the refugees were taken to accommodation facilities via minibuses and under strict security. After receiving first aid, food and water, they are expected to be housed in camps in the province of Gaziantep. Soldiers and their families are expected to be sent to a separate camp in Apaydın.

Another group of 207 Syrian refugees fled a number of Turkmen villages located near the Syrian town of Latakia and sought refuge in Turkey, entering via the Yayladağı border village of Topraktutan. The group, which included many women and children, were mainly taken to refugee camps in Şanlıurfa province.

Seven Syrians who were injured in bomb attacks in villages near the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Idlib were sent across the Turkish-Syrian border for treatment at Hatay hospitals.

More than 60,000 Syrians have fled to Turkey since the start of the 17-month crisis and have been provided with humanitarian aid by Turkey for more than a year. Refugees are currently being accommodated in five tent cities in Hatay, two in Şanlıurfa and one in Gaziantep. Another camp, made up of containerized housing units, is currently home to 12,000 refugees in the province of Kilis.

With the currently established refugee camps having reached capacity, Syrians will begin to be housed in dormitories and fitness centers in the provinces of Kilis, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Adana and Osmaniye until new camps can be set up. As the number of Syrians fleeing to Turkey increases with every passing day, the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) has already begun to set up these new camps to house the incoming tide of refugees.

UNHCR reports sharp rise in Syrian refugees fleeing to Turkey

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says there has been another sharp rise in the number of Syrian refugees fleeing to Turkey as well as to Jordan, to which an estimated 150,000 have already fled.

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said 3,500 people, mainly from Aleppo and surrounding areas, crossed into the Turkish provinces of Kilis and Hatay on Tuesday and Wednesday. Edwards also told reporters on Friday in Geneva that there are now almost 65,000 Syrians in nine refugee camps in Turkey, about 40 percent of whom newly arrived this month.

He says some 1,080 people arrived at the Ramtha and Jaber border areas in Jordan on Thursday night on top of another 1,600 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jordan's government now estimates 150,000 Syrians have crossed their border since March 2011.