Excerpts from the report by Human Rights Watch:
“As civilians
flee ISIS fighters, Turkey is responding with live ammunition instead of
compassion,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human
Rights Watch. “The whole world is talking about fighting ISIS, and yet
those most at risk of becoming victims of its horrific abuses are
trapped on the wrong side of a concrete wall.”
A camp resident who escaped described what happened:
“At dawn we heard gunshots near the camp. A short while later ISIS
arrived and used a loudspeaker to tell us we all had to leave. They said
we had nothing to fear and that we should all go east, into ISIS
territory. We left the camp but headed north through olive groves toward
the Turkish border. We were about 2,000 people. As we approached the
border wall we saw Turkish soldiers on a hill behind the wall and they
just started shooting at us. They shot at our feet and everyone just
turned round and ran in all directions. I took my family and we walked
to another [displaced persons] camp nearby, called al-Rayan. We’re
afraid now because ISIS is close to this camp too. But where can we go.”
Internally displaced Syrians outside Azaz town, fleeing ISIS advances north of Aleppo near the closed Turkish border.
© 2016 Private
