60,000 Syrian Kurds flee to Turkey within 24 hours amid ISIS advance

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.0021018981934px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some 60,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the past 24 hours, fleeing Islamic State (IS) militants who are advancing on dozens of villages close to the border.</span></span><br> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.0021018981934px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></span> <div style="line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turkey opened a stretch of the border on Friday after Kurds fled their homes, fearing an attack on the border town of Ayn al-Arab, a Kurdish commander on the ground said.<br><br>Local Kurds also said they fear a massacre in Kobani, whose strategic location has been blocking the militants from gaining more power in northern Syria.</span></div> <div style="line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Kobani is facing the fiercest and most barbaric attack in its history,"</em> Mohammed Saleh Muslim, the head of Syria's powerful Kurdish Democratic Union, told AP.<br><br>Lokman Isa, a 34-year-old farmer who escaped with his family, told Reuters: <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“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.”</em> He added that Kurdish forces fighting against the radical group have only light weapons.</span></div> <div style="line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <script language="JavaScript1.1" src="http://bdv.bidvertiser.com/BidVertiser.dbm?pid=579098%26bid=1449088" type="text/javascript"></script> <noscript><a href="http://www.bidvertiser.com/bdv/BidVertiser/bdv_advertiser.dbm">marketing</a></noscript> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { if (window.CHITIKA === undefined) { window.CHITIKA = { 'units' : [] }; }; var unit = {"publisher":"milevski21","width":300,"height":250,"sid":"Chitika Default"}; var placement_id = window.CHITIKA.units.length; window.CHITIKA.units.push(unit); document.write('<div id="chitikaAdBlock-' + placement_id + '"></div>'); var s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = '//cdn.chitika.net/getads.js'; try { document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s); } catch(e) { document.write(s.outerHTML); } }()); </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ads.qadservice.com/t?id=a9d19797-a2f4-4278-bad3-1729dd785474&size=300x250"></script> <div class="article_img" style="float: none; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="AFP Photo" src="http://rt.com/files/news/2e/3c/40/00/kurdish-turkey-border-cross.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: none; height: auto; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"></div></div>

60,000 Syrian Kurds flee to Turkey within 24 hours amid ISIS advance

Some 60,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the past 24 hours, fleeing Islamic State (IS) militants who are advancing on dozens of...

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