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         Thousands of Syrians Flee Aleppo to Escape Russian Airstrikes

   by Ken Bredemeier

   Tens of thousands of Syrians fled their homes in Aleppo Friday, headed
   toward Turkey as Russia intensified its aerial bombardment in northern
   Syria against rebel groups trying to overthrow President Bashar
   al-Assad.

   A charity, the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, said 50,000
   refugees had arrived at the Syrian-Turkish border, although Ankara
   closed its crossing point and it was not clear if any would be allowed
   to enter. The charity said it is setting up tent camps in Syria near
   the border to provide temporary shelter.

   Turkey, which has already taken in more than 2.5 million Syrians since
   the Syrian civil war began nearly five years ago, said that thousands
   more are currently on the way toward its border.

   The latest stream of refugees trying to escape Syria is occurring as
   government troops, supported by massive Russian airstrikes, launched
   attacks in northern Syria aimed at encircling the contested city of
   Aleppo, the country's largest.

   ''

   ''Russian airstrikes
   The Russian Defense Ministry said its fighter jets had hit 875 targets
   in Syria this week, including airstrikes in the northern offensive.

   In Friday's fighting, the Syrian news agency SANA said government
   troops retook the village of Rityan north of Aleppo, after earlier in
   the week seizing two other towns. Aleppo, Syria's one-time commercial
   hub with two million residents before the fighting started in 2011, has
   been divided between government and rebel-held districts.

   The government also advanced in southern Syria, with state media
   reporting that its troops captured a town near the provincial capital
   of Dara'a.

   ''Peace talks
   Meanwhile, the United Nations Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said he
   is trying to gauge whether there is international support, chiefly from
   the United States, Russia and Iran, for resuming the peace talks he had
   started this week in Geneva only to quickly halt the contentious
   gathering until late February.

   De Mistura said he would resume the talks if there is a chance to make
   progress, but only if that is the case.

   "I repeat: I won't talk for the sake of talking, it's not acceptable,"
   de Mistura said. "We negotiate in order to find an agreement."

   NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says Russia's air strikes in Syria are
   undermining efforts to find a non-military solution to the conflict.

   Stoltenberg made the comment Friday as he arrived in Amsterdam for a
   meeting of European Union defense ministers.

   ''Increased tensions
   He said the intense Russian air strikes are mainly targeting opposition
   groups and are causing increased tensions, as well as violations of
   NATO airspace and Turkish airspace.

   The Russian-backed assaults were in part responsible for derailing the
   Geneva peace talks, with Syrian government officials walking away from
   the talks after claiming that they had ended the rebel siege of two
   Shi'ite villages in Aleppo, handing Assad's government a major victory.

   The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to meet Friday for consultations
   with de Mistura over the breakdown in negotiations, which were
   suspended until February 25.
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   scape-russian-airstrikes/3178482.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/thousands-of-syrians-flee-aleppo-to-escape-russian-airstrikes/3178482.html