Thousands of Syrians were braving cold and rain at the Turkish border today after fleeing a Russian-backed regime offensive on Aleppo that threatens a fresh humanitarian disaster in the country's second city.
Tens of thousands have escaped fierce fighting as government forces unleashed an advance this week against rebels, severing the opposition's main supply route into Aleppo.
This morning, Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing -- which faces Bab al-Salama on Syrian soil -- remained closed, an AFP correspondent said, as Turkish authorities said they were working to free up space within existing camps to accommodate the new arrivals.
"Our teams are ready to provide them with water and food as soon as they arrive," Turkish Red Crescent head Ahmet Lutfi Akar said.
Around 40,000 civilians have fled their homes over the regime offensive, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.
"The situation of the displaced is tragic," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
"Families have been sleeping outside in the cold in fields and tents with no international NGO there to help them. They're helping each other."
EU officials today reminded Turkey of its international obligations to keep its frontiers open to refugees camped on its southern border.
"The Geneva convention is still valid which states that you have to take in refugees," EU Enlargement and Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn said as he went into talks with European foreign ministers.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said yesterday it estimated "up to 20,000 people have gathered at the Bab al-Salama border crossing and another 5,000 to 10,000 people have been displaced to Azaz city" nearby.
Turkey is already home to between two and 2.5 million Syrians who have fled their country's five-year civil war.
Aleppo province is one of the main strongholds of Syria's opposition, which is facing possibly its worst moment since the country's brutal conflict began.
