Syrians Crash Through a Fence Between War and Refuge

Alan Taylor
June 15, 2015
26 Photos
In Focus

Thousands of Syrians cut through a border fence and crossed over into Turkey on Sunday, fleeing intense fighting in northern Syria between Kurdish fighters and ISIS militants around the town of Tal Abyad. As Syrian Kurdish fighters closed in on the outskirts of the town, residents fled to the Turkish border by the thousands, but were stopped by barbed wire fences, trenches, and Turkish security forces firing warning shots and using water cannons to keep them back. At one point over the weekend, ISIS militants appeared to come between the refugees and the border fence on the Syrian side, urging them to return to the city center—under the watch of Turkish soldiers on the other side of the fence. The following day, a rush of desperate refugees returned, breaking through the border fences and pouring across into Turkey, where authorities were accommodating them. Despite recent attempts by the Turkish government to limit the flow of Syrian refugees, they agreed to re-open the border on Sunday, anticipating another 10,000 refugees.

Hints: View this page full screen. Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.

Syrians fleeing the war rush through broken down border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Turkish border crossing at Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Thousands of Syrians run away from the town of Tal Abyad, after they heard Kurdish fighters were approaching, at the Turkish Akcakale crossing gate in Sanliurfa province, on June 13, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrian refugees ask for water in Akcakale at the Turkish border near the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, on June 13, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrian refugees try to grab bottles of water thrown from the Turkish side of the border near the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, on June 12, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrian refugees plead for water at the Turkish border near the Syrian town of Tal Abyad on June 13, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrian refugees run away as Turkish soldiers use a water cannon to move them back from fences at the Turkish border near the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, on June 13, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
An armed man believed to be member of the ISIS militant group gestures to ask people to go back to the center of the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, as seen from Turkey at the Turkish crossing of Akcakale, on June 13, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Observed from the Turkish side of the border by journalists and Turkish soldiers, several armed ISIS militants come between refugees and the border fence, urging people to return to the town of Tal Abyad, on June 13, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
ISIS militants ask people to go back to the city center at the Turkish Akcakale crossing gate on June 13, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, southeastern Turkey, smoke from a US-led airstrike rises over the outskirts of Tal Abyad, Syria, on June 14, 2015. #

Lefteris Pitarakis / AP

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war gather near border fences attempting to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Turkish border crossing at Akcakale on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war squeeze through a hole in a border fence to enter Turkey, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war climb over and through a border fence to enter Turkey, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
A Syrian refugee carries a child near a border fence to enter Turkey, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war scramble over and through a border fence to enter Turkey, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war push through a broken-down border fence to enter Turkey, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war climb through a hole in a border fence to enter Turkey, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
A man carries a girl as Syrians refugees pass through broken down border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Akcakale border crossing, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
A Syrian man fleeing the war passes a small child over a border fence into Turkey, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war rush through broken down border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war rush through broken down border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrian refugees fleeing the war stop at the edge of a trench on the Turkish side of the border fence they just passed through, as they enter Turkish territory at Akcakale on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians help a boy into a border trench to enter Turkish territory at Akcakale on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
Syrians fleeing the war pass through broken border fences and trenches to enter Turkish territory illegally, near Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images

Read more
A Turkish soldier offers water to a Syrian refugee child after she crossed into Turkey from Syria, in Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Lefteris Pitarakis / AP

Read more
Syrian refugees, after breaking through a border fence and crossing into Turkey from Syria, in Akcakale, on June 14, 2015. #

Lefteris Pitarakis / AP

Read more