ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkish security officials are expecting a fresh influx of 50,000 refugees from neighboring Syria, as Russian jets pound the city of Aleppo and many residents prepare to flee. “Around 50,000 people living in Aleppo have begun preparations to leave,” the Hurriyet Daily News said on its website. Russian warplanes have been pounding the beleaguered city’s southern and eastern neighborhoods as part of the fight against the Islamic State group (ISIS). Syrian government troops have also begun a land operation near the city, which is expected to cause more locals to flee. “Turkish security sources said they expected the number of refugees leaving Aleppo to increase to 350,000 by the weekend if the airstrikes continue, with a number of these people being expected to reach Turkey’s border,” Hurriyet said. It quoted Syrian Turkmen Council President Abdurrahman Mustafa confirming that 50,000 people have left the city and are heading to Turkey. “A major migration has started from the south of Aleppo. Turkmens are in the rural and northern part of the city. The migration will be larger when the regime forces reach here,” the daily quoted Mustafa as saying. The Syrian army, reportedly backed by Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement and Iran’s elite Quds force, has made small gains since launching ground assaults in Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Latakia over the past two weeks. Some two million war refugees, mainly from Syria, have fled to Turkey since the start of that country’s civil war in 2011.
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