Syria: They came at dawn, and killed in cold blood

As Syrians flee, conditions worsen in Turkey’s border camps

By Kim Sengupta in Idlib province, The Independent, June 19, 2011

REUTERSA Syrian woman sits with her children in a camp in a Turkish border town in Hatay province. More children are falling ill as basic medical supplies start to run out

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The houses looked abandoned, windows and doors locked, a broken shutter clattering in the wind. Then, one by one, they began to appear from their hiding places, mainly women and children, a few elderly people. The residents of this village had learned to their cost that being caught unawares in this violent conflict could have lethal consequences.

The raid by the secret police – the Mukhabarat – and the Shabbiha militia had come at dawn. The killings had been cold-blooded and quick, three men shot dead as, barely awake, they tried desperately to get away. A search for others had proved fruitless; they had fled the day before. The damage to homes vented the frustration of the gunmen at missing their quarries.

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