Syria troops take town at refugee crossing

6 Sep 2012, 11:00 pm   -   Source: AAP

Syrian troops have wrested from rebel forces a town on the border with Jordan used by refugees fleeing the fighting.

Syrian troops have recaptured from rebels a border town used by refugees to cross to Jordan, activists say, in an apparent bid by the regime to stem the flood of Syrians fleeing their country's civil war.

Damascus meanwhile accused Cairo of stirring up violence in the country, as Syria lengthens the list of other Arab countries that it blames for its unrest.

Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi called this week for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down in an indication of the increasing isolation of Damascus in the Arab world.

In the latest clashes on Thursday, hundreds of Syrian soldiers backed by 20 tanks assaulted Tel Chehab, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local activist Mohammed Abu Houran said. The rebels fought back but were pushed out.

A Jordanian army officer living just across the border said by telephone that he had heard heavy shelling starting early in the morning, but that it had subsided by midday.

"It sounded like the shelling came from tanks and armoured vehicles," said the officer, who cannot be identified under standing army regulations.

"God help the Syrian people."

The activists did not have any figures for casualties, but Abu Houran said that at least 2000 refugees were waiting in the town for the chance to cross the border. Most of them were staying in two schools.

Syrian rebels, who claim to hold more than half of the country's territory, had been in control of Tel Chehab for months.

Abu Houran said that the town had faced repeated government assaults in the past.

The observatory, which has a network of activists throughout Syria, said troops were raiding homes in Tel Chehab and detaining people.

It added that smoke was billowing from parts of the town.

Abou Houran said the regime was apparently trying to cut the route for refugees who have been fleeing their country's civil war in increasing numbers.

More than 100,000 Syrians left in August alone, the highest over the past 18 months, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.

More than 160,000 Syrian refugees now live in Jordan, and their number is increasing by the thousands every day.

Also on Thursday, Syria's Foreign Ministry harshly attacked Egypt's Morsi, saying his calls for al-Assad to step down constitute "blatant interference in Syrian internal affairs and an explicit attack on the Syrian people's right to choose their own future without any foreign interference".

It added that Morsi is a "part of the current bloodshed in Syria".

Morsi said in remarks addressed to al-Assad on Wednesday: "Don't listen to the voices that tempt you to stay (in power) because you will not be there for much longer."

A war of words between Cairo and Damascus has escalated since August 30, when Morsi said at a summit of emerging nations in Tehran that Assad's "oppressive" regime has lost its legitimacy and that the world must stand behind the Syrian rebels.

Damascus then added Egypt, alongside Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, to the list of nations it says have stirred up unrest inside Syria.

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