Fleeing Syrians find refuge in Turkey

GUVECCI, Turkey -- Syrians streamed across the border Monday into neighboring Turkey, finding sanctuary in refugee camps ringed by barbed wire and offering a frightening picture of life back home where a deadly crackdown on dissent is fueling a popular revolt.

Turkey's prime minister has accused Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime of "savagery," but also said he would reach out to the Syrian leader to help solve the crisis.

Still, many of the nearly 7,000 refugees in Turkey say they expect their government to inflict only more violence and pain.

Refugees were pouring across the border to flee a crackdown Sunday that sent elite forces backed by helicopters and tanks into Jisr al-Shughour, a northern town that spun out of government control for a week. Troops led by Assad's brother regained control of Jisr al-Shughour on Sunday, and residents ran for their lives.

In Guvecci, two Syrians gave a bleak picture of life across the frontier.

"There are 7,000 people across the border, more and more women and children are coming toward the barbed wires," said Abu Ali, who left Jisr al-Shughour.

"Jisr is finished, it is razed."

Turkey and Syria once nearly went to war, but the two countries have cultivated warm relations in recent years, lifting travel visa requirements for their citizens and promoting business ties.

Turkey and Syria share a 520-mile border that includes several Syrian provinces. Refugees and relatives on both sides appeared to be crossing unimpeded around the village of Guvecci.

Syrian refugees staged open-air noon prayers behind wire fences Monday at the Boynuyogun refugee camp inside Turkey. At another camp in the town of Altinozu, refugee families flashed V for victory signs as police guarded their compound.

Turkish authorities have blocked the media from entering the camps. Turkey appears to be trying to limit the publicity of the crisis even as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won a landslide victory in Sunday's general elections, says he will speak to Assad soon.

Despite their support of NATO intervention in Libya, Arab governments have not responded to Syria's crackdown, fearing the chaos that could follow Assad's fall. The country has a potentially explosive sectarian mix and is seen as a regional powerhouse with influence on events in neighboring Israel, Lebanon and Iraq.

Two of the refugees in Turkey said the military is killing soldiers who refuse orders to fire on protesters.