1,000 Syrians Flee to Turkey in Single Day as Regime Plants Landmines

Around 1,000 Syrian refugees, including a defecting general, crossed into Turkey in the last 24 hours, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the Syrian revolt.

"The number of Syrian refugees currently staying in Turkey boomed by 1,000 in a single day and climbed to 14,700 total," ministry spokesperson Selçuk Unal told reporters in Ankara.

The latest wave of arrivals included a defecting general who crossed the border to join the rebel forces which have a base in Turkey's Hatay province on the border with Syria, according to Unal.

"With the Syrian general who arrived yesterday, we now host seven generals on our side of the border," he said.

Another group of 700 Syrians had arrived in Turkey on Tuesday night, signaling that the number of Syrians arriving at the border might continue to increase rapidly.

Turkish officials based on the border had to relocate some of the 1,000 refugees to the nearby provinces of Gaziantep and Kilis, where the government is setting up additional camps to house the thousands that have flocked to Turkey in the last month.

"We are getting ready for any scenario, there is the expectation that the numbers will rise," Unal said.

Following the Syrian army rampages in the restive neighborhood of Baba Amr in Homs and in the rebel stronghold Idlib, the number of Syrians arriving at the border have escalated sharply.

Also Thursday, Turkish deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said Syria has planted landmines near its border with Turkey along routes used by refugees.

"The Syrian administration has been planting mines, taking measures not to allow refugees to flee to the other side of the border," he said in televised remarks.