ATMA: 'Where can we go?'

For many desperate families, fleeing from village to village, Atma is the last stop before Turkey. The tents on the hillside overlook the border fence. People don't want to go back at any cost.

Many have experienced terrible ordeals. Northern Syria has seen some of the worst atrocities of the war.

In one group of tents, we came across survivors of Kfar Obeid: 110 people, or more, were said to have been killed by the security forces there in December 2011.

"They wiped out the whole village," said Samira Khaled, who lost four brothers. As we wept over the bodies, they shot between our feet and said: 'You pigs, we have prepared dinner for you.'"

She went on, tearfully: "Where can we go? Where can we go? All Syria's being killed. We ask God to destroy Bashar. We ask the world to help. For our children, in this rain, in this awful weather, we must prevail. Islam must prevail."

Outside the large tent being used as the camp mosque, I bumped into Sheikh Samir Ibrahim, chairman of the Syrian Free Scholars and Preachers Committee.

The declaration was a mistake by "our brothers" he told me.

"We are seeking a civil state - one with Islamic legislation and a democratic system. All of Syria's sects will coexist together, whether Alawites, Druze or Christians. We don't want any form of extreme Islamic practice."

But, looking at the squalor around us, he went on: "We hope that the UN and great countries like Britain will hurry up and support the Syrian people. The longer they wait, the more radicalism breeds and the more extreme organisations will emerge."

While western governments debate the truth of this, more people are fleeing. That is no surprise when a typical week can see 1,000 people killed in Syria.

But even in Atma, right on the border, it is difficult to escape the war.

We left Atma on Friday night. On Monday morning, Syrian air force jets fired missiles at buildings used by rebel fighters in the nearby village.

The missiles missed their targets, landing in fields, but one was close to the camp and many people were sent running in panic.

The Syrian volunteers running the camp are extremely worried. They are talking about sending people elsewhere. "Families will carry their tents and Atma will be divided into four or five camps," said one.

Packing up their tents and moving will compound the hopelessness and sense of betrayal we found at Atma. The fine words of Western politicians (or visiting journalists) were "all lies", the angry woman had shouted.

Every day, more people arrive here - 1,500 last week according to one aid worker.

And every day, it gets colder. As winter sets in, the misery here on Syria's border with Turkey will only deepen.

Fonte: CNN