Heavy fighting between Syrian rebels and troops sent thousands fleeing across the border into Turkey yesterday, as President Bashar al-Assad said his future could only be decided at the ballot box.
The clashes over a border post near the northeastern town of Ras al-Ain killed 46 combatants in two days, a watchdog said, and highlighted the humanitarian crisis and regional dangers posed by Syria’s nearly 20-month conflict.
The UN said more than 11,000 Syrians had fled into neighbouring countries in the previous 24 hours alone, including 9,000 into Turkey, bringing to more than 408,000 the number of registered Syrian refugees in the region.
The UN said the total number of Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq would likely hit 700,000, and the head of its humanitarian efforts said those in need of emergency aid in Syria would rise to more than four million early next year.
At least 20 Syrian soldiers were killed in yesterday’s clashes over the Ras al-Ain post, one of only two crossings on the Turkish border still in regime hands, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It said rebels had captured numerous soldiers and taken control of key positions in mainly Kurdish Ras al-Ain, including the offices of the security and intelligence services.
Turkish officials said 8,000 refugees had fled the fighting in Ras al-Ain overnight and that most were taken to a camp in Akcakale near the border.
In an interview with Russian TV, meanwhile, Assad warned Syria was facing a protracted conflict because foreign powers were backing rebels fighting his regime, but insisted there was no civil war.
He admitted divisions existed in the country, but said “division does not mean civil war”, and denied his forces had committed war crimes. State-backed Russia Today had on Thursday released excerpts of the interview in which Assad vowed to “live in Syria and die in Syria” and warned that foreign intervention would have global consequences.
Thousands of protesters rallied yesterday, with many mocking Assad’s “live and die” remarks. “Bashar, you will die in Syria but you won’t be buried in the ground, you will be thrown in the dustbin of history!” read one sign held by protesters in Hama. (AFP)