RPT - Turkish Red Crescent Believes People 'Temporarily' Fleeing Northern Syria Amid Offensive

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2019) Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik told Sputnik that the outflow of people from northern Syria affected by Operation Peace Spring was predictable and that he hoped this would be a temporary trend.

"The movements from North part to South part [of Syria] was expected moment because people are seeking the safest place ... So it [the migrating population] is temporally moving out [and] I hope so they will get back," Kinik, who is also a vice president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said.

On October 9, Turkey launched an offensive in northern Syria to clear the border area of the Kurdish militia Ankara views as a terrorist group.

Syrian government forces have since been dispatched to the north to help the Kurds to take control over a number of settlements in Raqqa and Aleppo provinces. The Russian military police are assisting Damascus in ensuring order in the area.

Though Ankara insists that, among other things, its operation seeks to create conditions for the return of a portion of the some 3.6 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey, the offensive has already displaced at least 160,000 Syrians, according to the United Nations.