Iraq urges citizens to leave Syria

Iraq’s government is urging all of its citizens living in Syria to return home immediately to escape being hurt or killed in the country’s escalating civil war.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Baghdad called on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the opposition forces to resist harming Iraqis who may be caught in the crossfire.

Mr Al-Dabbagh said there had been a rise in killings and assaults on Iraqis in Syria.

The UN estimated there were one million Iraq refugees in Syria and 3,000 more seeking asylum as of January, the latest figures available.

Thousands of Iraqis fled to Syria to escape widespread sectarian fighting during the worst of the violence in their homeland between 2005 and 2007.

Turkey is building a new refugee camp for Syrian refugees to accommodate 10,000 people, officials said, as hundreds more people fled the escalating violence.

The state-run Anadolu agency reported that at least 864 people had crossed the border into Turkey since Monday, including a general and four colonels.

A new camp is being set up near the town of Karkamis, in Gaziantep province on the border with Syria, Turkey’s crisis management centre said. The camp will have a capacity to accommodate 10,000 people.

Meanwhile, the number of refugees in sheltering in eight camps along the 566-mile border with Syria reached 42,682 on Tuesday, the crisis centre said. They are housed in eight camps.