Flight Of The Syrians

The refugees escaping assad's horrors tell their stories

Peter Hapak for TIME

Khadija, 33, and her niece Salwa, 30, who holds her own niece Hadeel, 2 months "Some of our relatives are missing. I think they have been martyred. May God have mercy on their souls." –Khadija "There is a woman, my neighbor, who forgot one of her sons. He's still in Syria. We left in such a hurry. Can you imagine? She forgot one of her children." –Salwa

The Syrians have not stopped crossing into Turkey. Some walk for hours, others for days; most bring nothing but the clothes on their backs and harrowing tales of what they have fled. They speak of mass killings, of homes shelled and burned to the ground, of relatives marched in front of tanks as human shields. In just one day this month, more than 2,800 Syrians fled President Bashar Assad's onslaught against a yearlong revolt. They streamed into southern Turkey, the most refugees to enter in a 24-hour period. The attacks, which intensified even as Damascus was pledging to desist, have sorely...

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