Turkey: 2000 Syrian refugees in 3 days

More than 2000 Syrians fled to Turkey in the past three days, officials said Tuesday, pointing to an increase in refugee arrivals which had dipped following a peace plan in April. The number of Syrian refugees in camps set up in southeastern Turkey reached 26,747 on Tuesday, up from 24,433 on Saturday, according to figures announced by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD). The influx of refugees comes as violence continues in Syria, particularly in northwestern villages close to the border. The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) announced on Friday that it was resuming “defensive operations” because of the failure of the peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. It was supposed to have come into effect from April 12. The refugees are accommodated in Turkish Red Crescent camps in the southeastern provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Kilis. Four civilians were killed on Monday night, in a “huge military operation” in the Kfar Oweid area of Idlib, a province bordering Turkey, a stronghold of rebel forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There were also clashes in several other areas of the province in northwest Syria, said the monitoring group.