Over 37,000 Syrian refugees sheltered by Kurds in Afrin

PanARMENIAN.Net - Since May this year, thousands of displaced people have arrived in the town of Afrin in northwestern Syria, being hosted by Kurds, while Turkey closed its borders for Syrians fleeing the fighting between the Islamic State militants and Syrian rebel groups, ARA News reported Tuesday, June 28.

On Monday, more than 1,274 civilians arrived in Afrin [known in Kurdish as Efrin], according to local sources.

It’s estimated that since May 25, more than 37,052 IDPs arrived in Afrin and the number is increasing after IS started to harass and kidnap local Kurds near al-Bab and Manbij in northern Syria.

In total, more than 1,000 Kurdish civilians were kidnapped by IS in Syria. Moreover, fighting between Syrian rebel groups and IS are ongoing near the Turkish border towards al-Rai district, and the Syrian Democratic Forces are surrounding and fighting in Manbij city.

Most of the displaced civilians heading to Afrin come from northern Aleppo, also known as Shahba region, or from Raqqa, Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor, ARA News said.

Turkish border guards have killed several Syrian Kurds and Arabs that have tried to flee to Turkey.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called upon the United Nations to pressure Turkey to open its borders for fleeing civilians.

“Governments and UN agencies should end their deafening silence on Turkey’s abuse of Syrian asylum seekers and press Turkey to reopen its border to civilians fleeing the horrors in Syria,” Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch said in May.