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  • Death Toll Rises Above 35,000 In Turkey, Syria Earthquake

    Death Toll Rises Above 35,000 In Turkey, Syria Earthquake

    The death toll from a catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria climbed above 35,000 on Monday, with search and rescue teams starting to wind down their work.

    Officials and medics said 31,643 people had died in Turkey and 3,581 in Syria from last Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 35,224.

    When the death toll stood at 28,000 on Saturday, the United Nations relief chief Martin Griffiths told Sky News he expected the number to “double or more” as chances of finding survivors fade with every passing day.

    Supplies have been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system, and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is under Western sanctions.
    A 10-truck UN convoy crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, according to an AFP correspondent, carrying shelter kits including plastic sheeting, ropes and screws and nails, as well as blankets, mattresses and carpets.

    Bab al-Hawa is the only point for international aid to reach people in rebel-held areas of Syria after nearly 12 years of civil war, after other crossings were closed under pressure from China and Russia.

    The World Health Organization chief met Assad in Damascus on Sunday and said the Syrian leader had voiced readiness for more border crossings to help bring aid into the rebel-held northwest.

    “He was open to considering additional cross-border access points for this emergency,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

    Assad said he looked forward to further “efficient cooperation” with the UN agency to improve the shortage in supplies, equipment and medicines, his presidency said.

    UN special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, was also in Damascus on Sunday carrying a message to set aside politics.

    “We are mobilising funding and we are trying to tell everyone to put politics aside,” he said.

    “This is a time to unite behind a common effort to support the Syrian people.”

    Assad had also thanked the United Arab Emirates for providing “huge relief and humanitarian aid” with pledges of tens of millions of dollars in aid as well.

    But security concerns prompted the suspension of some rescue operations, and dozens of people have been arrested for looting or trying to defraud victims in the aftermath of the quake in Turkey, according to state media.

    An Israeli emergency relief organisation said Sunday it had suspended its earthquake rescue operation in Turkey and returned home because of a “significant” security threat to its staff.

    Miraculous tales of survival still emerged, though experts caution that hopes for finding people alive in the devastation dim with each passing day.

    Almost 160 hours after the quake, several more people were rescued, including an eight-year-old boy in Gaziantep, and a 63-year-old woman in Hatay, state media reported.

    The United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people urgently need hot meals across Turkey and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless.

    Almost 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, the WHO said as it appealed Saturday for $42.8 million to cope with immediate health needs after dozens of hospitals were damaged.

    Turkey’s disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organisations are working on search-and-rescue efforts, along with 8,294 international rescuers.

    But, in many areas, rescue teams said they lacked sensors and other advanced search equipment, leaving them reduced to carefully digging through the rubble with shovels or only their hands.

    “If we had this kind of equipment, we would have saved hundreds of lives, if not more,” said Alaa Moubarak, head of civil defence in Jableh, northwest Syria.

    Syria’s transport ministry has said 62 aid planes had landed in Syria this week with more on the way in coming days, in particular from Saudi Arabia.

    After days of grief and anguish, anger in Turkey has been growing over the poor quality of buildings as well as the government’s response to the country’s worst disaster in nearly a century.

    Officials say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the earthquake.

    Three people were put behind bars by Sunday and seven more have been detained — including two developers who were trying to relocate to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

    Officials and medics said 29,605 people had died in Turkey and 3,581 in Syria from last Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, bringing the confirmed total to 33,186.

  • Earthquake: US-based Pakistani ‘donates $30m’ for Turkey-Syria victims

    Earthquake: US-based Pakistani ‘donates $30m’ for Turkey-Syria victims

     
    A Pakistani, residing in the United States, anonymously “donated $30 million to the Turkish embassy” for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria after the natural calamity wreaked havoc claiming the lives of thousands of people and damaging infrastructure in the two countries.

    The catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the wee hours of Monday morning jolted parts of Turkey and Syria, as volunteers and governments struggle to ensure relief and rescue to those in need with little hope of finding survivors.

    Donation by the Pakistani, which has been reported by Turkish media, was also confirmed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

    The premier, taking to Twitter, wrote: “Deeply moved by the example of an anonymous Pakistani who walked into Turkish embassy in the US and donated $30 million for earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria.”

    “These are such glorious acts of philanthropy that enable humanity to triumph over the seemingly insurmountable odds,” he added.

    In a video shared on Twitter, TRT World journalist Yousuf Erim also appreciated the move and said: “Individuals, a Pakistani businessman walked into the Turkish embassy in the United States and anonymously donated $30 million by himself. We don’t know who he is. His identity has not been revealed.”

    Mustafa Tanyeri — who is the editor-in-chief of The Election Post — said Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington Murat Mercan said that a Pakistani businessman alone contributed $30 million to the aid campaign launched in the US.

    This was also reported by TRT World’s reporter Jaffar Hasnain.

    PM Shehbaz on Friday announced that the federal government has allocated Rs10 billion to help Turkey’s earthquake relief efforts, saying that Pakistan will continue to assist the calamity-hit country every day.

    “I believe that the people of Turkey and Syria will come out of this difficulty,” he said, adding that Pakistan assured Turkey of assistance the day when this tragedy took place.

    “A Pakistan Army team was sent the day when the earthquake hit Turkey and the dispatching of the relief goods has begun,” he continued.

    He said that goods weighing 100 tonnes are being sent to Turkey in a truck.

    The prime minister urged the people, welfare organisations and businessmen to take part in the fund collection drive. He also requested the chief ministers to help in this regard.

    “A committee has been formed to send funds to Turkey. 1,486 tonnes of relief goods are being sent to Turkey and Syria,” he added.

    The premier said that 13 centres have been established in Pakistan for the collection of funds, adding that donations will also be collected in educational institutions across the country.

    Meanwhile, International aid was also trickling into parts of Turkey and Syria on Saturday where rescuers toiled to pull children from rubble in quake-hit areas.

    A winter freeze in the affected areas has hurt rescue efforts and compounded the suffering of millions of people, many in desperate need of aid.

    At least 870,000 people urgently needed food in the two countries after the quake, which has left up to 5.3 million people homeless in Syria alone, the UN warned.

    Aftershocks following Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor have added to the death toll and further upended the lives of survivors.

    The United Nations World Food Programme appealed for $77 million to provide food rations to at least 590,000 newly displaced people in Turkey and 284,000 in Syria.

    Of those, 545,000 were internally displaced people and 45,000 were refugees, it said.

  • Earthquake: Death Toll Exceeds 7,800 in Turkey, Syria

    Earthquake: Death Toll Exceeds 7,800 in Turkey, Syria

    Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces devastated by two earthquakes that killed more than 7,800 people and left a trail of destruction across a wide area of southern Turkey and neighbouring Syria.

    A day after the quakes hit, rescuers working in harsh conditions struggled to dig people out of the rubble of collapsed buildings.

    As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One United Nations official said it was feared thousands of children may have been killed.

    And residents in several damaged Turkish cities voiced anger and despair at what they said was a slow and inadequate response from the authorities to the deadliest earthquake to hit Turkey since 1999.

    “There is not even a single person here. We are under the snow, without a home, without anything,” said Murat Alinak, whose home in Malatya had collapsed and whose relatives are missing. “What shall I do, where can I go?”

    Monday’s magnitude 7.8 quake, followed hours later by a second one almost as powerful, toppled thousands of buildings including hospitals, schools and apartment blocks.

    Tens of thousands of people were injured or left homeless in cities in Turkey and northern Syria.

    Winter weather has hampered rescue and relief efforts and made the plight of the homeless even more miserable. Some areas were without fuel and electricity.

    Aid officials voiced particular concern about the situation in Syria, already afflicted by a humanitarian crisis after nearly 12 years of civil war.

    The death toll in Turkey rose to 5,434, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, adding that 31,777 people were injured. In Syria, the toll was at least 1,832, according to the government and a rescue service in the insurgent-held northwest.

    Erdogan on Tuesday declared 10 Turkish provinces a disaster zone and imposed a state of emergency there for three months. This will permit the government to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms.

    The government will open up hotels in the tourism hub of Antalya to temporarily house people impacted by the quakes, said Erdogan, who faces a national election in three months’ time. (Reuters)

  • Death Toll Rise to Over 4,300 As Tragic Earthquake Rocks Turkey, Syria

    Death Toll Rise to Over 4,300 As Tragic Earthquake Rocks Turkey, Syria

    Rescuers in Turkey and Syria worked overnight and in near-freezing temperatures to comb through rubble in search of survivors after a powerful earthquake and aftershocks collapsed thousands of buildings, killed more than 4,300 people and raised the specter of a new humanitarian disaster in an area of the world already racked by war, a refugee crisis and deep economic troubles.

    The initial magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit at 4:17 a.m. local time on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey, and was also felt in Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and Lebanon. Hundreds of aftershocks, including an unusually strong 7.5 magnitude tremor, struck Turkey in the aftermath, the U.S.G.S. said. The series of shocks was the deadliest to hit the country in more than 20 years.

    On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy winter night, as buildings were flattened and strong aftershocks continued.

    Rescue workers and residents in multiple cities searched for survivors, working through tangles of metal and giant piles of concrete. A hospital in Turkey collapsed and patients, including newborns, were evacuated from a handful of facilities in Syria.

    In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home collapsed. “I don’t have the strength anymore,” one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the rubble as rescue workers tried to reach him, said the resident, journalism student Muhammet Fatih Yavus.

    Farther east in Diyarbakir, cranes and rescue teams rushed people on stretchers out of a mountain of pancaked concrete floors that was once an apartment building.

    The quake, felt as far away as Cairo, was centered north of Gaziantep, a Turkish provincial capital.

    It struck a region that has been shaped on both sides of the border by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. On the Syrian side, the swath affected is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from that conflict.

    The opposition-held regions in Syria are packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the fighting. Many of them live in buildings that are already wrecked from past bombardments. Hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble, the opposition emergency organization, called the White Helmets, said in a statement.

    Strained health facilities and hospitals were quickly filled with wounded, rescue workers said. Others had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organization.

    “We fear that the deaths are in the hundreds,” Muheeb Qaddour, a doctor, said by phone from the town of Atmeh.

    Turkey sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999. The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8. At least 20 aftershocks followed, some hours later during daylight, the strongest measuring 6.6, Turkish authorities said.

    Buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast. Nearly 900 buildings were destroyed in Turkey’s Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras provinces, said Vice President Fuat Oktay. A hospital collapsed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Iskanderoun, but casualties were not immediately known, he said.

    “Unfortunately, at the same time, we are also struggling with extremely severe weather conditions,” Oktay told reporters. Nearly 2,800 search and rescue teams have been deployed in the disaster-stricken areas, he said.

    “We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote on Twitter.

    Countries from Taiwan to Russia to Germany offered to send help, whether medical supplies, search teams or money.

    In Turkey, people trying to leave the quake-stricken regions caused traffic jams, hampering efforts of emergency teams trying to reach the affected areas. Authorities urged residents not to take to the roads. Mosques around the region were being opened up as a shelter for people unable to return to damaged homes amid temperatures that hovered around freezing.

    The quake heavily damaged Gaziantep’s most famed landmark, its historic castle perched atop a hill in the center of the city. Parts of the fortresses’ walls and watch towers were leveled and other parts heavily damaged, images from the city showed.

    In Diyarbakir, hundreds of rescue workers and civilians formed lines across a mountain of wreckage, passing down broken concrete pieces, household belongings and other debris as they searched for trapped survivors while excavators dug through the rubble below.

  • Disintegration: Nigerians should learn lessons from Libya, Iraq, Syria – Researcher

    Dr. Ahmad Jibrin Suleiman | Ndokwa Reporters

    From Ujah Simon, kaduna

    Nigerians have been called upon to learn lessons from the unfortunate case of Libya, the disaster of Iraq and the disintegration of Syria,.despite challenges being faced, the Director of Research and Production Ambassador of peace and social welfare, Dr. Ahmad Jibrin Suleiman, has observed. The Director who made the observation in a press conference in kaduna on Thursday said even though there are challenges, its not enough for disintegration, saying President Muhammadu Buhari is doing a lot in terms of acheivements.He said there are burning issued of Insecurity largely based on kidnappings but Nigerians should grateful that the current situation would not be compared to the pre 2015 terrors of Boko Haram, as well as Farmer and Herders Conflict of the few years back.
    “Food Security, yes, granted that the current Corona and its attendant lockdown has impacted on our food harvest which force us to allow foreign Maize to boost our poultry feeds. Should we not celebrate this progress in self-sufficiency? Compare this when we were importing all stocks without any consideration”, he stated.
    On Fuel Price, Dr Suleiman, noted that there were so much uproar about the hikes in Fuel price, he however reminded Nigerians to think of the bitter experience of fuel queued of the previous administrations.
    “Have we pondered over how fuel queue have disappeared on the roads? Have we pondered over the success in modular refineries in Imo, Lagos and other states”, he said.On Perception of War and Challenges, the researcher also stressed that, “Have we pondered over the fact that most issues are over hyped by oppositions to reverse the 2015 turn around? “Some of this black taint are so outlandish that you Imagine how can anybody believe it”, lamented, citing the issued of alleged “Jibrin from Sudan story about Mr. President.
    “It is therefore based on the above that we call on fellow Nigerians to learn a serious 
    lesson from the unfortunate case of Libya, disaster of Iraq and disintegration of Syria. “On the other hand, we should learn from china to take advantage of our large population and diversities and to unify ourselves around common national interest like Russia is successfully doing. “The days of complaint and bitterness should be over like in Rwanda and we should toil the path of Rwanda to usher in an egalitarian tomorrow”, he stated.
    He listed the achievements of Buhari’s administration, to include establishment of
    new Ministries, including Police Affairs and Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in 2020, the Budget Implementation Cycle being successfully restored to a January-to-December Calendar, with the signing of the 2020 Appropriation Bill in December 2019.President Buhari, according to him also signed into law, a Finance Bill, to reform domestic tax laws, introduce tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital markets, and improve the business environment.”The presidency also asserted that among the many achievements of the 
    administration is that President Buhari ordered of a forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).”Nigeria rising to 15 places on the World Bank Doing Business Index, to 131st position, from 146th, and President Buhari assenting to the Deep Offshore (and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract) Act.
    “Also mentioned were Buhari performing the ground-breaking for the University of Transportation in Daura, an investment by CCECC in Nigeria, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo performing the ground-breaking for a new Wagon Assembly Plant in Kajola, Ogun State, which will produce rolling stock for Nigeria’s new Rail Lines, and create jobs for thousands of Nigerians”President Buhari approving the Financial Transparency Policy, mandating publication of Public Financial Information through an Open Treasury Portal and Nigeria commencing the issuance of Visas on Arrival to all persons    holding passports of African countries among others.
    He also stated that “No fewer than three private Modular Refinery projects have been established. near completion, among others.

  • UN say 700 people died in Syrian camps

    UN say 700 people died in Syrian camps

    The United Nations counter terrorism chief said his office received information that 700 people died recently in two camps in northeast Syria, where about 70,000 mainly women and children connected to Islamic State fighters are detained in “very dire conditions.”

    Vladimir Vorontsov told a news conference Thursday that the people, including children, died of “lack of medicine, lack of food” at the al-Hol and Roj camps, which are overseen by Kurdish-led forces allied with the United States who spearheaded the fight against the extremist group. He said the deaths in the camps created “feelings of anger.”

    Vorontsov urged the international community to tackle “the huge problem” of what to do with these people, saying keeping them in camps “is very dangerous.”

    He warned that “they could create very explosive materials that could be very helpful for terrorists to restart their activities” in Syria and Iraq.

    The Islamic State, which once controlled large swathes of Iraq and Syria, lost its last Syrian strongholds in early 2019. But despite the loss of its self-styled caliphate, U.N. experts said earlier this year that the extremist group is mounting increasingly bold attacks in Syria and Iraq and is planning for the breakout of its fighters in detention facilities.

  • Russia, Syria under attack at UN over killing of Turkish soldiers

    Russia, Syria under attack at UN over killing of Turkish soldiers

    Russia and Syria on Friday came under strong criticisms from western countries in the UN Security Council over the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria on Thursday.

    According to reports, the soldiers died in an attack by Russia-backed Syrian government forces in the northwestern province of Idlib.

    In separate contributions at an emergency meeting of the council in New York, the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Belgium and Estonia condemned the attack.

    But China expressed tacit support for Syria, saying the Idlib crisis was rooted in control of the province by terrorists, adding that all external peace efforts must respect Syria’s territorial integrity.

    But Dominican Republic, Indonesia, South Africa, Vietnam, Tunisia and Niger took the middle course by calling for immediate ceasefire and urging all parties to explore diplomatic solutions.

    The strongest words of the evening came from the U.S. whose ambassador, Kelly Craft, said she was not at the meeting to listen and discus, but to speak directly without mincing words.

    Describing the attack as senseless and barbaric, Craft said Turkey had her country’s support to “respond in self-defence’’ to the “unjustified attack.”

    The representative of U.K., Jonathan Allen, decried the suffering of the Syrian people caused by “the merciless and disproportionate campaign being waged by the Syrian regime and its Russian backers.”

    Allen painted a graphic picture of the humanitarian crisis resulting from the Syrian government’s military offensive in Idlib and called on those responsible to desist.

    In his contribution, China’s representative, Zhang Jun, said the Syrian conflict had its complicated background, adding that the council must be “impartial, objective and comprehensive’’ in facilitating political settlement.

    Jun recalled a report by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that terrorists were targeting civilians, journalists and humanitarian workers in Idlib.

    He said: “Eradicating the forces of terror is a necessary requirement for the restoration of peace and stability in Syria and in Idlib.

    “The least of the terrorist groups should be resolutely crushed in accordance with the relevant council resolutions and international law and the safe haven established by terrorist forces in Syria should be liquidated.’’

    The Syrian government sees the opposition forces trying to overthrow it since 2011 as terrorists, a position reaffirmed by the country’s ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja’afari, at the meeting.

    Ja’afari maintained that the Syrian government would continue to combat terrorism to “liberate every inch of our territories whether through military operations or local reconciliations.”

    He accused Turkey of turning the observation posts in Idlib into operation zones to support the terrorists in their “plundering, looting, kidnapping, torturing, raping’’ and stealing of humanitarian aids.

    Ja’afari alleged that the Turkish soldiers killed on Thursday were operating far away from the observation posts.

    The Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, also backed Ja’afari’s claim that the Turkish soldiers were killed outside the observation posts.

    Nebenzya said Russian and Turkish forces on the ground in Syria were constantly in touch, sharing coordinates of troop positions and conveying same to Syrian forces in real time.

    He said the coordinates received by Russia from Turkey on Thursday did not mention the areas where the soldiers died.

    But the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the UN, Feridun Hadi, dismissed the claim, saying the soldiers died after their convoy was targeted in a series of airstrikes within the de-escalation area.

    “Let me underline that the Turkish forces that were attacked were alone in that area. The logical conclusion of that is they were deliberately attacked.

    “There was prior coordination in writing with Russian forces about the location of our convoy, but airstrikes continued despite our immediate warnings right after the very first attack.

    “Even the ambulances sent for wounded soldiers were targeted. So, this was a belligerent act of aggression against Turkey,’’ he said.

    All members of the council echoed the UN Secretary General’s call for immediate ceasefire, noting that the only solution to the conflict was dialogue and not military confrontation.(NAN)

  • Turkey says 33 soldiers killed in airstrikes in Syria’s Idlib

    Turkey says 33 soldiers killed in airstrikes in Syria’s Idlib

    At least 33 Turkish soldiers died in airstrikes in the north-western Syrian province of Idlib, an official said Friday, amid an unprecedented escalation in the battle for the country’s last opposition stronghold.

    Governor Rahmi Dogan of the Turkish province of Hatay, which borders Idlib, said wounded soldiers being treated in hospital were not in a life-threatening condition.

    Blaming the attack on Syrian government jets, he said the casualties were brought across the border from the Cilvegozu crossing.

    There was no announcement from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who chaired an emergency security meeting lasting several hours into early Friday to discuss the situation in Idlib, where Syrian government forces backed by Russian airpower have steadily advanced.

    “It was agreed in the meeting to retaliate in kind against the illegitimate regime that has pointed its gun against our soldiers,” said Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan’s communications director.

    That retaliation was under way via air and land, he said.

    The meeting concluded that “the Assad regime is responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Syrians,” referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    “We call on the international community, particularly the parties to the Astana process, to fulfil their responsibilities, to stop the regime’s crimes against humanity,” Altun said in a statement.

    Turkey, Russia and Iran are the guarantors of the so-called Astana peace process launched in Kazakhstan in January 2017 to end the Syrian war.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke by phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, state news agency Anadolu reported, while Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin spoke with US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.

    The attack marks the single largest death toll in a day of Turkish soldiers in Idlib.

    Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, told dpa that 34 Turkish soldiers were killed and tens of others wounded when warplanes and Syrian government shelling hit their convoy in Jabal al-Zawiya, which is south of the town of Saraqeb.

    Turkey-backed Syrian rebels recaptured Saraqeb, a strategic town in Idlib that was taken over by government forces, the observatory said on Thursday.

    Saraqeb – located on a highway linking the capital Damascus and the northern province of Aleppo – was retaken after fierce battles between Syrian government forces and rebels backed by Turkish artillery, according to the Britain-based watchdog.

    Saraqeb, the second-largest city after Maaret al-Numaan in Idlib, was captured by Syrian government forces earlier this month.

    Hours earlier, Erdogan said: “In Idlib, developments have turned to our advantage right now. … The regime forces have suffered a very big loss. Our struggle there continues.”

    In late April, the Syrian government, backed by Russia, launched an offensive to seize the region from rebels.

    Ankara and Moscow – who support opposing sides in Syria’s war – reached a deal in Sochi in 2018 to create a demilitarized zone around Idlib and stave off a Syrian offensive.

    But even their latest ceasefire reached in January collapsed.

    Erdogan has given an end-of-the-month ultimatum for Syrian government forces to stop besieging Turkish observation posts in Idlib that were set up under the deal with Russia.

    “Time’s almost up,” Erdogan said on Wednesday. “We plan to free our besieged observation towers, one way or another, by the end of this month,” he said, reiterating a threat to Damascus to retreat.

    Several of Ankara’s observation posts are now behind Syrian government lines following gains by its army. Ankara has been strengthening its posts and sending troops and military hardware into Idlib in the face of Syrian advances.

    The most pressing concern for Turkey, which hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, is the influx of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Idlib to its border.

    Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said: “Turkey can no longer hold the refugee influx from Idlib at our border.” (dpa)