Jordan opens refugee camp as tide of Syrians flee fighting

Thousands of people daily are pouring across the border into Jordan which now hosts 142,000 refugees.

The exodus continued yesterday as officials pledged to “purge” Aleppo, the nation’s commercial hub, of “terrorists”.

Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem spoke in similarly volatile terms as he said the regime would not hesitate to crush the rebel defence of the city, raising fears of what may come following Syria’s announcement last week that it would use chemical weapons against foreign attackers.

“They mobilized all their armed terrorists and tried to capture Damascus in less than a week,” Moallem said in Iran. “They were defeated. Today, they’ve gone to Aleppo and definitely they will be defeated in Aleppo.”

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported heavy fighting and explosions in Aleppo. It reported intense clashes in the Bab al-Hadeed, al-Zahraa and al-Arqoub neighbourhoods.

The international community has raised an outcry about a possible massacre in the city of three million but acknowledged there was little they could do to stop the bloodshed.

The foreign minister of Russia, a powerful ally of Syria, said it was “simply unrealistic” for Damascus to cede control of Aleppo.

The rebels are estimated to control between a third and a half of the neighbourhoods in the sprawling city, especially a cluster in the north-east around the Sakhour neighbourhood and in the south-west.

They began their attempt to wrest Aleppo from the government’s control a week ago. About 162 people have been killed, mostly civilians, according to the SOHR. Some 19,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011, the group says. “We are seeing some of the heaviest bombardment today, but the rebels are still holding up well,” Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said yesterday.

“No ground troops have been able to enter. They are shelling from outside.”

He added that rebels were fighting back against the attackers.

He said around 200 fighters entered the city yesterday to join about 1,000 fighters who had poured into Aleppo in the past few days to take on the Syrian army, which had been massing forces around the city ahead of the bombardment.

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