Syrian troops drive on towards border towns as civilians flee

As the Syrian government expanded its crackdown on dissent, activists said tanks had entered the northern town of Maaret al-Numan and other villages near Jisr al-Shughour – a town that came under a military siege on Sunday from elite forces backed by helicopters and led by president Bashar Assad’s brother.

Human rights activist Mustafa Osso said tanks were also moving in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on the border with Iraq.

Activists say more than 1,400 Syrians have died and some 10,000 have been detained in the government crackdown since the popular uprising demanding democratic reforms began in mid-March.

Thousands have fled to Turkey where aid charities have set up vast tented camps as well as Lebanon, sparking a massive aid mission by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The British Red Cross is using £100,000 from its internal funding and £70,000 from its Libya and Region Appeal to pay for relief, particularly food, and five ambulances for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to use in its response.

The Turkish Red Crescent is now building a second camp as hundreds continue to arrive, many of them women and children. Its first camp was set up on the outskirts of Yayladagi, a village of 6,300 where many speak Arabic as a first language and have families scattered both sides of the border.

In the past month, thousands have also crossed to Lebanon, where the Lebanese Red Cross has set up a first aid post to provide healthcare to displaced families.

Many of those living in the camps offer a frightening picture of life at home.

Some analysts believe President Assad is trying to keep the opposition from establishing a base, which happened in Libya when the rebels trying to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi took over the coastal city of Benghazi.

Assad initially had promised mild reforms but his appeals have been rejected by the thousands of protesters who say they will not stop until he leaves power, ending his family’s 30-year regime.

And in the past week, as the government appeared to be on the verge of losing control of major swathes of the country, it has abandoned most pretence at reform.

Among the refugees now in Turkey is Mohammad Hesnawi, a 26-year-old from Jisr al-Shughour.

In the Syrian border village of al-Hasaniya, he said, Turkish authorities have given priority to women and children who want to flee.

“People in al-Hasaniya are eating fruit out of the trees, including apples and cherries,” he said, adding that there was not enough for everyone.

He accused pro-government militias known as Shabiha of atrocities in Jisr al-Shughour. “They damage homes and buildings, kill even animals, set trees and farmlands on fire,” Hesnawi said.

Turkey’s prime minister has accused Assad’s regime of “savagery”, but Arab governments, which were supportive of Nato intervention in Libya, have stayed silent on the crackdown, apparently fearing the alternative to Assad could be chaos. Newly re-elected Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he would reach out to the Syrian leader to help solve the crisis.

Turkey and Syria once nearly went to war, but the two countries have cultivated warm relations in recent years.

The United Nation’s top humanitarian official Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, has also voiced deep concern about the impact on civilians and has urged Syria not to use violence against peaceful protesters.