About 60,000 Syrian Kurds Flee To Turkey As Islamic State Advances

[Purveyor]

By Daren Butler
SURUC Turkey Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:57am EDT

(Reuters) - About 60,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the past 24 hours, a deputy prime minister said on Saturday, fleeing an advance by Islamic State militants who have seized dozens of villages close to the border and are advancing on a Syrian town.

Turkey opened a stretch of the frontier on Friday after Kurdish civilians fled their homes, fearing an imminent attack on the border town of Ayn al-Arab, which is also known as Kobani. Islamic State is now within 15 km (9 miles) of the town, a Kurdish commander on the ground said.

Islamic State's advances in northern Syria have prompted calls for help by the region's Kurds who fear a massacre in Kobani. The town sits in a strategic position on the border and has prevented the radical Sunni Muslim militants from consolidating their gains across northern Syria.

Lokman Isa, a 34-year-old farmer, said he had fled with his family and about 30 other families after heavily-armed Islamic State militants entered his village of Celebi. He said the Kurdish forces battling them had only light weapons.

"They (Islamic State) have destroyed every place they have gone to. We saw what they did in Iraq in Sinjar and we fled in fear," he told Reuters in the Turkish town of Suruc, where Turkish authorities were setting up a camp.

more...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/20/us-syria-crisis-turkey-kurds-idUSKBN0HF05I20140920

[cali]

1. In one freaking day.

[pampango]

2. Add that to the 3 million Syrian refugees plus another 3.5 million displaced inside the country.

The world does not care to do much for those 6.5 million. I doubt another 60,000 will affect how the world deals with the conflict.