Turkey offers aid to Idlib refugees

ISTANBUL, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish aid organizations are making efforts to help refugees fleeing Syria's Idlib province, where the government troops have been fighting against the rebels, the Turkish Red Crescent said on Wednesday.

"The total number of refugees who have been displaced since the airstrikes begun in the southern part of Idlib has reached 400,000 while the figure of those who approached Turkey's border has already exceeded 200,000," Kerem Kinik, president of the Turkish humanitarian group, told Xinhua.

The Turkish Red Crescent, in cooperation with Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), has established a new camp that can house 3,000 refugees in Idlib's northern village of Kelbit.

"The camp with its 500 tents became fully operational today," said Kinik.

He said hundreds of refugees are coming to the camp area each day and Turkish aid workers are doing their best to meet their growing demands despite the camp's limited capacity.

"We are also providing all kinds of support, including health service, and meeting the urgent needs of those who came with their own tents," Kinik added.

Turkish aid agencies have also set up a temporary refugee center with 94 tents for refugees who arrived at Idlib's Kafr Lusein region at the end of last December, delivering food to over 3,500 families per month.

According to Ibrahim Altan, director general of the Turkish Red Crescent, the distribution of bread has increased from 35,000 to over 70,000 per day for refugees in Kelbit and Kafr Lusein, while brand new clothes have been delivered to 15,000 of them.

Mehmet Gulluoglu, head of the AFAD, visited Kelbit on Sunday, where he said babies, children and the elder were in need of urgent protection and care.

Russia, Turkey and Iran have declared de-escalation zones in rebels-held Idlib in efforts to make peace in Syria, but the Syrian troops have renewed air and ground offensives against the rebels to retake lost towns and villages. Enditem