A water collection point in Atmeh refugee camp, Syria. Image: J.I.Wessels. All rights reserved.
On 14 June, thousands of panicking Syrian civilians pushed themselves through a narrow fence opening at the northern Syrian border crossing of Tel Abyad-Akcakale, fleeing the heavy fighting between the Free Syrian Army and Kurdish YPG on one side and the Islamic State (IS or Da’esh) on the other. The town of Tel Abyad is strategically located; it is the closest border crossing to Raqqa, a rural city that is an IS/Da’esh stronghold and self-appointed central city of the so-called Islamic State.
These Syrian civilians were wedged between this and the Turkish border, which was initially kept tightly closed by the Turkish authorities and IS/Da’esh. These people had absolutely nowhere to go. After a while, IS/Da’esh jihadists arrived at the border fence to push the Syrian refugees back to Tel Abyad. Knowing that it would mean death if someone tried to flee the Islamic State, naturally people started to panic.
