Syria refugee crisis raises pressure for buffer zone

ANKARA: Syria’s refugee exodus is accelerating and up to 200,000 people could settle in Turkey alone if the conflict worsens, the UN warned yesterday, increasing pressure for creation of a buffer zone inside Syria.
Turkey has floated the idea of a “safe zone” to be set up for civilians under foreign protection as fighting has intensified in a 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Up to 5,000 refugees a day have been crossing into Turkey over the past two weeks while the pace of refugees arriving at a camp in northern Jordan has doubled, heralding what could be a much bigger movement there, the UN refugee agency said.
Although there is no sign divided world powers are ready to back a buffer and no-fly zone, UN Security Council foreign ministers are expected to discuss the idea at a meeting tomorrow.
Already hosting more than 80,000 refugees, Turkey has warned it could run out of space if the number goes above 100,000.
“We are already looking at potentially up to 200,000 and are working with the Turkish government to make the necessary plans,” Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Reuters in Geneva.
Turkey will open four new camps for Syrian refugees by next week, bringing its capacity to 120,000 people, its disaster management agency said.
The refugee flow to Turkey has grown as fighting has worsened around Aleppo.
Heavy fighting has also returned to districts around Damascus. Twelve people were killed by a car bomb at a funeral in Damascus.
Activists also said an airstrike in the town of Kfar Nabl in Idlib killed at least 13 people.
Fighting raged nationwide as Abdelbaset Sieda, the head of the main Syrian opposition group, criticized US officials yesterday for saying it was premature to speak about a transitional Syrian government.